A recent survey was conducted by Cochrane’s Economic Recovery Task Force in an effort to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on local businesses and to help them make plans for local economic recovery moving forward.  

Mike Korman is the Business Development Manager with the Town of Cochrane and the task force lead, and he says that it was important for the task force to make informed decisions with input from the Cochrane business community.

He says "We really wanted to make decisions based on data, real data. The task force first off said 'well, we don't really know what businesses need in order to be successful or stay viable through this pandemic, so how are we supposed to make any recommendations?' So that's the reason we put the survey out."

Korman says that between May 25 and July 16, they received 147 responses to the survey which revelled the growing safety concern for both business owners and consumers, and as a result, Cochrane's local shopping campaign 'Open & Safe' was developed and launched.

Korman says that the campaign is already helping more than 100 businesses successfully relaunch, while also putting consumers at ease knowing that health and safety protocols are in place.

He says "So far we have 114 businesses signed up who have taken the pledge to be open and safe. We reach out to businesses who want to be a part of the program because it is certainly a free program that we don't want to charge anybody for. We want to provide them with this free marketing effort on their behalf."

from the 147 responses to date, the survey determined that:

  • 80% of local businesses changed their operational model and 55% either by reduced staffing levels or hours worked, while only 20% had to stop operations completely.   
  • 55% of local businesses saw profitability drop by at least 50% 
  • 60% of business owners utilized provincial or federal funding programs 
  • 41% wanted the top priority for the Task Force to be a shop local campaign or larger external campaign to attract tourism and residents   
  • 50% plan to introduce or increase online, digital or e-commerce operations over the next two months.  

Korman says while there are certainly challenges being faced and hurdles to jump for most businesses at this time, overall there is a feeling of optimism throughout the Cochrane business community.

He says "We reached out to about 500 businesses. We made calls to them and just said 'how are you doing? Where are you at? The optimism of Cochrane and the business community is really, really high. Yeah they're concerned, yeah there's some unknowns but they really feel like they're going to get through this."

Cochrane has seen 29 new business licence applications over the last three months, which Korman says indicates continuing economic confidence.   

He says "The business environment is complex, and the pandemic has made it even more difficult for some. We recognize some small businesses won't be able to rebound, but with new businesses coming to Cochrane, we have a positive sign of economic recovery."

Businesses and consumers can still weigh in on the survey, which can be found on the town’s Let’s Talk Cochrane platform.