It’s a snapshot in time meant to support local business owners.
“We really want to get at what’s really causing pain for the industry right now and make sure that we have a clear understanding of what we need to fix.”
According to Economic Development Lethbridge CEO Trevor Lewington, the results of the Brighter Together Survey are used to advocate for policy change, develop new initiatives based on business needs and monitor trends in the data.
“We ask questions around level of investment, level of hiring. So we get a bit of a sense year to year of what’s the Lethbridge business community planning. Are they looking to grow, are they concerned about where sales and revenue are going to go,” Lewington said.
“From that we can make some decisions if there’s any advocacy work we need to do with government or if there’s any policy decisions we need to make.”
Results from 2022 found 69 per cent of Lethbridge businesses surveyed felt positive about the success of their business moving forward. The executive director of the Downtown BRZ, Sarah Amies, says she hopes to see that number grow.
“It was a great thing to see last year that those responses were as heavily weighted in the positives as they were, and so we’re hoping to see more of that positive certainly as we come out of the pandemic.”
The survey runs until mid-November but some entrepreneurs, like Analog Books co-owner Penny Warris, have already completed the questionnaire and she’s encouraging others to do the same.
“Businesses, especially in the downtown core, we have to be collaborative and we have to share all of the good stuff and all of the bad stuff to make sure everybody’s on the same page.”
Results of the Brighter Together Survey will be released in late 2023 or early 2024 and will be officially unveiled at the mayor’s state of the city address.