Vanderhoof’s Burrard Market Square has received a $10,000 prize for coming first in the employment category of the Small Business Big Impact Challenge, a competition put on by Scotiabank and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
The announcement was made at the beginning of June and representatives from Scotiabank and the CFIB came to present the cheque to the square last Wednesday.
Burrard Market Square first opened in September last year and houses a number of different local vendors who are just starting their own businesses.
“We have created about 16 new jobs in the community and thats why we won the competition because the market has had a big impact in terms of job creation and self-employment,” said Fiona Lamprecht, Nechako Markets Development Society vice chair.
“It’s pretty exciting,” she said.
Lamprecht says the Nechako Markets Development Society, which runs the market, hasn’t decided what to do with the money yet, but confirmed it would be invested into the Burrard Market.
Some ideas have been put forward for what to spend the money on such as an electronic sign at the front of the market or improved insulation for the building.
“The biggest cost that the businesses have right now is heating and the building is very old and inefficient – we need more insulation … so we might look at a project like,” she said.
Lamprecht described the market as a business incubator and says the society wants to see businesses succeed and move on. One of the vendors within the market who runs a video rental store is just about to move into his own building.
“He’s actually moving to his own space … so the way we view it is he’s a success story,” said Lamprecht.
“Vendors here don’t have to worry about high rent – we have removed that barrier – they can come in and start right away with no start up costs,” she said.
