Throughout the U.S. and Canada, business incubators have become a popular way for towns and cities to support and grow home-grown startups.

If you’re considering starting a business incubator or entrepreneur centre, it’s important to consider if your city needs it, or will benefit from it, before you get started.

1. Are There Other Business Incubators or Accelerators in Your City?

You can be fairly sure your city is ready for an incubator or accelerator if one or more is already operating. There should be many businesses to support, so it’s wise to narrow your focus. You can specialize in a specific type of business, business stage, or a specific kind of support. Consider becoming as targeted as Clean Tech Open, which specializes in early-stage support for green technology start-ups.

2. Is There a University in Your Town?

If you intend to focus on start-ups, a university is a great place to find them. Universities with strong tech and business programs are especially likely to attract the entrepreneurs you’re looking to support. However, most universities will already have some sort of startup support system, so be sure to speak with local college students and recent graduates to see if there is a demand for more.

3. How Many New Businesses Open in Your City?

Not everyone can be in Silicon Valley or Waterloo, Ontario. If you’re not in a tech hub, you can focus your business incubator on existing small businesses instead of start-ups. It’s wise to find out how many new businesses are started in your city annually if that is your plan. That will let you know if there are enough businesses that may need your services in the area.

4. Are There Nearby Mentors and Investors?

You can use the internet to connect your clients with mentors and investors from other cities, but you’ll have a harder time keeping them interested. Investors prefer to be near their investments, so that they can be more involved with them. Plus, the best mentors are very busy and may not always be able to travel out to meet your clients in person.

Before you take on businesses or start-ups, reach out to those who might be good investors or mentors for the type of client you want to attract. That way, you can gauge their commitment level and find out how you can fill their shoes if they aren’t interested.

5. Does Your City Have the Right Resources?

Business incubators often offer several resources to their client’s businesses. You’ll need those resources close at hand, including law firms that have experience with businesses, office space, accounting firms, and excellent internet connections. As they may not have these resources, very small and very rural cities may not be the right choice for your incubator.

Other Options

If you find that your city doesn’t need a business incubator, you have other options. If you enjoy connecting businesses and fostering entrepreneurs, consider starting a co-working environment.

Or, if you’re looking to support businesses in a more meaningful way, consider becoming a ShopCity.com City Manager. Our platform works great with a wide variety of cities and can become profitable in a fraction of the time. Click here to learn more about the opportunity, or request your information packet now.

Book lovers will remember a time where the advent of e-books and Amazon delivery threatened to close down their local, independent bookstore. While bookstores many did close down, those that managed to survive the decade-long lows have begun to experience a comeback.

While the number of independent bookstores fell by 40 percent from the mid-nineties to 2009, they rebounded over the next few years. From 2009 to 2015 the number of indie bookshops grew by almost 35 percent. Part of their growth can be explained by the decline of e-book sales, which were down by 3.8 percent in 2017, according to Forbes. What’s driving the independent bookstore revival?

1. Great Staff & Recommendations

Independent bookstores focus on having passionate, knowledgeable staff that Amazon’s recommendation algorithm just can’t compete with. While Amazon will show you books that are similar to what you’ve already bought, a bookstore employee can make recommendations based on what you’re in the mood for.

Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, agrees.“The way indie bookstores are not just surviving but thriving in this current business environment is that they are innovative and creative and create an experience you can’t replicate online… and the extraordinary knowledge and passion that indie booksellers have about books.”

A few book lovers have been using bookstore staff’s knowledge in unique ways. Harbor Books in New York has offered dinner party hosts book recommendations for each guest. The gift is more personal than most and can start great conversations at the dinner table. Try getting book recommendations for your next gift.

Manticore Books in Orillia, Ontario

2. A Passion for Local Shopping

Consumers who want to shop in bookstores have chosen their local, independent store over the big book chains. In 2011, the major American bookstore Borders, and its subsidiary Waldenbooks, shut down. Barnes & Noble is surviving but has been struggling for years as its consolidated sales drop.

Instead of giving Borders’ market share to Barnes & Noble, consumers chose to resume shopping at nearby independent bookstores. Although, the outlook is less positive in Canada, where major retailer Indigo is doing so well that it is planning to open five stores in the United States.

No matter which big retailer is popular in your area, you can simply shop at a local independent bookstore if you’d like to support them instead. If you no longer have one in your area, consider taking a little drive to the closest one. This can signal to investors and would-be bookstore owners that your hometown is ready for an independent store of its own.

3. The Love of Physical Books

When e-books first came out they were exciting and offered new possibilities for book-lovers. Now, the honeymoon period has worn off, and consumers are realizing that e-books aren’t great for every situation.

To explain the drop n e-book sales, a writer for the Observer explains that losing his e-book reader three times, forgetting to charge it, and breaking the screen has left him disillusioned with e-books in general. You can find the same stories across social media, where book enthusiasts remind us that physical books don’t run on batteries and can’t have software problems.

There will always be those who are passionate about owning e-books, but the physical book remains very close to many reader’s hearts. If you feel the same, and are dedicated to local shopping, or want a solid book recommendation, it may be time to visit your local independent bookstore.

We all like to talk about the “buy local” movement, but how many consumers actually embrace it?

To find out, we took a look at buy local statistics and research to see who’s shopping local and why.

The Popularity of Buying Local

The overwhelming majority of Americans (90%!) shop at local businesses at least once per week. Data from SCORE, a nonprofit partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration, has found that 42% of Americans shop at local businesses three or more times a week.

Americans who prefer small businesses commonly cite convenience (66%), a desire to support local businesses (63%), a preference for one-of-a-kind products (54%) and a superior customer service experience (53%) as the driving factors behind choosing small businesses.

Local businesses are also strongly preferred by Canadians. According to the Business Development Bank of Canada, 87% of Canadians believe that shopping locally is more environmentally responsible, and 97% of Canadians have bought a local product to support their local economy.

Who Buys Local Products?

If you think that certain genders, ages, or income levels are more likely to buy local, think again.

A study from the Journal of Food Distribution Research has found that these demographic details have surprisingly little impact on the likelihood to buy local. All that really matters is that they understand the impact of buying locally: those who believe that buying locally helps their local economy, or supports the environment, are most likely to buy local. That’s why education is so crucial.

The good news is that many consumers are already aware of those benefits. In a survey of over 2,700 businesses, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance found that businesses that engaged in “buy local” campaigns grew revenue by more than 5.6%, versus 2.1% for other businesses during the same time frame.

You may find more targeted demographic information for your specific business or product, but overall, just adding “we’re local!” to your current advertising messages can have a significant impact.

Locavores are Going Mainstream

Locavores, or people who strongly prefer eating locally-produced food, have become one of the largest driving forces in the buy local movement. According to Cone Communications Food Issues Trend Tracker, 89% of Americans value the source of their food, and 66% of Americans will pay more for local food.

According to Packaged Facts, the local food industry in the U.S. will amount to $20.2 billion by 2019, up from a mere $11.7 billion in 2011. In eight years, the market is projected to almost double, which is good news for both current and new local businesses.

The same research has found that Americans prefer local food because they believe it has higher quality, better taste, and higher production standards. They also believe that local food is healthier for themselves and the environment.

But it’s not just about fresh foods. Nielsen has found that North Americans’ preference for local food extends to non-perishables such as ice cream, cookies, crackers, cereal and even canned vegetables.
 

Shop Online and Buy Local

Though buy local campaigns primarily target local consumers, small businesses shouldn’t neglect online strategies either.

The Business Development Bank of Canada reports that 47% of Canadian consumers conduct online searches before buying products, but 30% of small businesses in Canada still do not have websites. Meanwhile in the U.S., Forbes reports that 82% of consumers consult their phones before making in-store purchases, while SCORE reports that 36% of small businesses in the U.S. don’t have websites, either.

If you own a small business, be sure that your online presence helps consumers understand your company, your products, and the impact of shopping locally.

The Buy Local Movement is Just Getting Started

It’s clear from the numbers that Americans and Canadians have only begun to embrace the shop local movement. Carrying local products, educating consumers about the benefits of shopping locally, and supporting other businesses that are part of the movement is a winning strategy for 2019 and beyond.

Growing industries, new trends, and a focus on local shopping have made for a lot of business opportunities for local entrepreneurs this year. If you’re tempted to run your own business and put your entrepreneurial skills to use, but just don’t know where to start, one of these ten business ideas may be the venture you’re looking for.

1. Convenience Subscription Services

The rise of Blue Apron and other meal kit services is part of a wider trend. Consumers want convenience services that save them from running errands like grocery shopping, or that help keep them organized.

It’s not just about food, there are many errand and organization services you could provide, including:

• Personal shopping/styling
• Home and clutter organization
• Cleaning services (from homes to offices, to vehicles)
• Replenishment services for bathroom items or other household goods

Starting your own subscription or meal-kit service is a good opportunity, but be sure you learn from experience when you do. It seems that price is a big obstacle Blue Apron is facing. If you can provide these subscriptions at a lower cost, you’re more likely to find success.

2. IT Contractor

If your skills are more to do with technology, you may find a good opportunity as an IT contractor. Instead of working for one specific company, you can become your own boss and work on IT issues for many different clients.

Forbes named IT professionals one of the most in-demand professions of 2018 and listed some technologies it’s wise to have experience in. In this profession, keeping up with technological changes and being available for last-minute issues are both keys to success.

3. Event Planner

Weddings, birthdays, charity galas and professional conferences all need to be planned by someone who has high attention to detail and great coordination skills. Is that you? If so, event planning is a great industry in which to start your own business. According to the United States Department of Labor, the industry will continue to grow faster than average from 2016 to 2026. The key to success will be choosing your event specialization wisely.

4. Drone Photographer

Drones exploded in popularity over the last few years, but they’re still just getting started.

Drone photographers are often freelance operators who shoot everything from weddings and events to real estate, construction sites, and natural disaster damage. While drones are becoming more common, along with drone pilots, developing a specialty like thermography can help you establish a niche for years to come.

5. Handcrafted Goods

The shop local movement has made all kinds of hand-crafted products viable small business opportunities. The craft industry is worth 30 billion dollars in the United States. More local markets and trade shows pop up all of the time.

Creative types will thrive in the craft industry. There are always new kinds of goods and trends to capitalize on. Some ideas include:

• Up-cycled furniture
• Vegan cosmetics
• Handmade baked goods
• Homebrews
• Locally designed or hand printed clothing
• One-of-a-kind jewellery
• Knives and forged items
• Handmade paper products

In order to make this one a success, you’ll need talent for making the product, plus great marketing and social media skills.

6. Self-storage

If you’re looking for a business that is more investment-heavy, and more likely to graduate from side-gig to full-time work, the self-storage industry is a great place to start.

Self-storage has seen tremendous growth, becoming a 38 billion dollar industry in 2017. Almost ten percent of Americans use storage facilities now, and demand is expected to grow. Depending on the size of the storage units you can rent out, you can make quite a margin.

7. Local Produce Farmer

It may seem like old news, but the demand for locally grown food is still growing. According to Business Insider, the industry’s growth is outpacing total food sales’ growth. In 2019, it is expected to reach 20 billion as an industry.

There’s lots of opportunity in farming local goods, so long as you keep your focus on sustainable practices and high-quality goods that someone nearby demands. You can choose to sell at a farmer’s market, to local high-end restaurants, or other local businesses that need specific plants.

Don’t limit yourself to lettuce. Consider flowers, herbs, dye and scent plants, food for local animals or pets, and other unusual plants. Connect with other local businesses to see what they need to create their products.

8. E-Sports Bar or Stadium

Online games like League of Legends have become competitive sports. With that, amateur players in every city are looking to gather to watch games, or are looking for a place to participate in tournaments. According to Business Insider, e-sports will soon be a billion dollar opportunity, with many revenue streams left untapped. Plus, catering to e-sports is a great way for local bars to capture the attention of young men and stay in business.

9. Corporate Wellness Retreats

Corporations are focusing more on their employee’s satisfaction and productivity, and are turning to wellness retreats to help meet their goals. According to Forbes, the annual revenue growth in the corporate wellness industry was 9.8 percent from 2011 to 2019. Over the same period, the average enterprise in the industry grew 8.7 percent.

If you have experience in human resources, you’ll have an inside edge in providing the services corporations want. Partnering with someone who can offer interesting or team-bonding experiences is a good idea too.

Though some corporate wellness businesses are investment-intensive, with large facilities, they aren’t all. Many corporate retreat companies offer on-site retreats or focus on small companies whose staff can be accommodated in smaller spaces.

10. Become a City Manager for ShopCity.com

If you have a passion for supporting small businesses of all types, your best opportunity might be here at ShopCity.com. A City Manager forges connections between community leaders and helps businesses thrive. You may spend your day attending a grand opening or helping an older business refine their approach to digital marketing and sales.

Some of the most successful city managers are entrepreneurs. Others have backgrounds in marketing, local government, and sales. If you have the drive and are passionate about your town and the businesses that enrich it, reach out to us to learn more about becoming a City Manager.

If you’ve been dreaming of starting up a vegan restaurant, food truck, beauty supply, or baked goods shop in your local neighborhood, 2019 is the year to make your dream a reality. There’s a higher demand for vegan products than ever before, and more resources to help you make your vegan small business a success.

In the United States alone, plant-based food alternatives is a 13 billion dollar industry, according to research from the Plant Based Foods Association. If you’re Canadian, the market is smaller, but vegan demand is growing faster than in America. There’s vegan opportunity everywhere.

Growing Demand for Vegan Options

According to research from Technavio, the plant-protein market will grow by 9 percent from 2019 to 2023, partly due to the increasing number of vegans. This may be an under-estimate, considering the market grew 20 percent in 2018 alone, according to the Plant Based Foods Association.

Indeed, it’s not just vegans themselves who crave vegan options. There are roughly five times as many former vegans as vegans, and though they may occasionally eat animal products, they are still likely to buy vegan products from the local shops they once relied on.

Plus, friends and family members want to cater to the vegans in their life, heading to vegan-friendly restaurants and choosing vegan-friendly foods at home. They are also inspired by their vegan loved ones. Research from Nielsenshows that thirty-nine percent of American are incorporating more plant-based foods into their daily eating.

This demand is leading to innovation. Most vegan products are based on wheat, pea, and soy protein. In 2018 the vegan palette expanded with hemp-based milk, vegan cheese made of potatoes and cashews, and more. In January of 2019, a new vegan sausage made of fungus and potato protein was released, to rave reviews. These innovations will continue, and translate to more options for you when you’re designing your vegan products.

Location Choice & Online Sales

There isn’t a huge vegan market in every city. A bit of market research can tell you if your local city has the demand to support your business. Plus, you can speak to the ShopCity.com city manager for your area, who can tell you how other vegan businesses are faring and how much vegan demand they have seen in the community.

The demand in your local area may surprise you. Paul White, who opened the first vegan restaurant in Blackpool, UK, in 2018 told the Guardian he was surprised at the response his opening garnered.

“What surprised us was people were coming from all over Blackpool. There were hidden vegans in Blackpool who were struggling in silence!” he said.

New vegan start-ups can use online sales to bolster their business while they develop a brand presence in their local town. Or, your vegan business could be purely online, where there are millions of vegans.

Whether in brick and mortar stores or online, you’ll find your local or virtual vegan business community supportive of your venture. There are many vegan communities and networks that support their local vegan businesses. Plus, more general small business support networks like ShopCity.com are excellent options for vegan small businesses as well.

“Not Just Vegan” Small Businesses

Katrina Fox, the host of the Vegan Business Talk podcast, points out on Medium that making ethical products is more costly than their non-vegan counterparts. Vegan business owners often choose to avoid child labor, ensure farmers are paid fairly for their products and choose locally made ingredients. This often results in higher production costs.

With higher product costs, comes more overall risk to the business and challenges in marketing your product. Dedication to offering vegan products isn’t the only thing you’ll need to make your business successful. Strong accounting, marketing, and other business skills are imperative.

In 2019, you have more options than ever to improve your small business skills. Self-directed learning platforms like Hub-Spot Academy, edX, and MIT Open Courseware can help you fill in the gaps you’re missing to make your local vegan small business work.

Plus, if you take advantage of the ShopCity.com platform, you don’t have to learn how to build a website or assess your social media presence. The Platform makes many aspects of running your business much simpler.

Make 2019 Your Year

The growing demand for vegan food, plus increased support for local and small businesses, is creating a lot of opportunity for those who want to open up a vegan small business. This year is the time to start your dream venture before consumer demand is met or big retailers in your area catch on.

Vegan Businesses We Love

• The Green Eatery
• Muskoka Natural Food Market
• Baagan
• Millennium Restaurant

Licensed ShopCity.com operators representing markets from St. Petersburg, Florida to Kelowna, British Columbia gathered for their first chance to meet face-to-face in Las Vegas on September 27^th for the First Annual ShopCity.com Summit.

Centered around a day-long training and learning session, the three-day conference included a dinner and awards ceremony, group trips to historic Fremont Street and Container Park, an initiative of the Downtown Project, and plenty of networking, team-building and experience-sharing, with more than 65 local owners and support staff in attendance.

“It was amazing to meet all those people in person after talking to them only on teleconference and video conference,” said Kevin Joyce, Owner/City Manager of ShopOkotoks.ca in Alberta. “It was great to see how many people had the same experiences, had gone through the same things and then found success.”

The New Control Panel

For many attendees, the highlight of the conference was a preview of the release of the new ShopCity.com Business Control Panel, a dashboard that better engages small business owners and helps them use the suite of platform tools to market their businesses.

“I keep telling everybody, ‘Wait ‘til you see this – it’s fantastic!’” said Lynn Martin, Owner/City Manager of ShopOrillia.com and ShopMuskoka.com in Ontario. “It’s so easy to maneuver, it’s easy to use. I love the self-tour to guide clients with what they’re doing.”

A Glimpse into Presearch

To cap off the conference, CEO, Colin Pape, gave the team a glimpse into the future of ShopCity.com and the possibilities opened up to the company by cryptocurrency and the emerging search engine Presearch, of which Pape is also project lead.

“With the experience we’ve gained through the successful crowd sale and token launch we conducted for Presearch, we’re in an amazing position to launch a Shop token in 2019 that will catapult ShopCity.com into the cryptocurrency market and bring prosperity to local economies everywhere,” Pape said.

This is Still Just the Beginning

Planning has begun for the next ShopCity.com Summit, and the excitement is already building. “We had incredibly positive feedback on the event, and everyone who went has indicated that they’re coming back again next year,” said ShopCity.com GM, Rick Kloss.

Now that the company has experienced the energy created by bringing all of its team members together, it’s planning more meet-ups and conferences as it continues to expand across North America.

Lindsay and TJ Papp became the owners of ShopKelowna.com during the summer of 2014.

They’d saved up some money working at their radio station and construction supply jobs and were planning to invest in a rental property when they heard about the ShopCity.com opportunity.

They found out that ShopKelowna.com, the site for their home community of Kelowna, British Columbia was available for purchase. And with low overhead and start-up costs, it was more affordable than other businesses for sale.

Intrigued by the prospect of a career that would provide them with flexible schedules and allow them to spend more time with their kids, they started doing some research.

They loved that the business was built around helping other businesses succeed and creating a stronger local economy.

With both Lindsay and TJ growing up in entrepreneurial households, they knew the importance of small businesses and realized that business owners needed the tools and support offered by the ShopCity.com platform to thrive in this new connected and mobile world.

Getting Down to Business

After speaking with other City Managers and customers, and repeatedly hearing great things about ShopCity.com, they started crunching the numbers.

It didn’t take long for the Papps to recognize the power of a subscription-based business that would enable them to create recurring revenue streams that would compound over time and provide a true path to financial freedom.

Lindsay and TJ became convinced that as the owners of ShopKelowna.com they could spend a few years building up the business and then employ someone to operate it while they earned residual income.

They created a two-year plan in which they would build up enough subscriptions to replace their incomes and then slowly transition out of their corporate jobs.

TJ was the first to go full-time at ShopKelowna.com after just six months of owning the business.

Then they started working on Lindsay’s transition, and another year in she had taken the plunge to spending all of her working hours on their new business.

Now Lindsay and TJ are able to spend more time with their children, are generating the revenue they need to fund their lifestyle, and are proud to have become active members of their local business community.

They were even featured in a news segment from their local TV station.

And Lindsay was recently profiled by an online community news site, KelownaNow.com.

Although there’s still more work ahead, Lindsay and TJ are incredibly happy with their decision to buy ShopKelowna.com and take control of their lives and their livelihood.

They plan to make ShopKelowna.com a household name and build the #1 local business resource and platform for local companies.

ShopCity.com is behind them 100% and we know they will achieve all of their goals and dreams.

Visit ShopKelowna.com.

Connect with Lindsay & TJ on LinkedIn.

This past week was the 2018 Ontario BIA Association (OBIAA) annual conference in Collingwood, Ontario.

BIAs (Business Improvement Areas) play an incredibly important role in setting our local communities up for success, with thriving and vibrant downtown cores as the goal.

The people who are attracted to the world of BIAs are some of the most dedicated and passionate about supporting local businesses that you’ll ever find.

For this reason, ShopCity.com was proud to participate in our second OBIAA conference, this time as exhibitors.

Director of Training, Andrew Perkins, ShopCity.com founder, Colin Pape, and General Manager, Rick Kloss, attended the event and had a great time meeting with Ontario’s downtown leaders and experts, discussing the shop local movement and learning from some real visionaries in the field.

After recently partnering up with the Bloor West Village BIA, the world’s first BIA, to run ShopBloorWest.com, ShopCity.com developed an offering specifically for BIAs and is excited to implement the model in more business districts to help local merchants be found online when people are beginning their purchase journeys.

Brockville is a town of about 21,000 nestled on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in the Thousand Islands region of eastern Ontario.

Located on the 401 halfway between Toronto and Montreal, businesses benefit from the traffic that commutes through Brockville’s outer edge, but faces the same struggles as many smaller communities, lower population growth, big businesses shutting down, and an extra need for residents to keep their purchases local.

That’s why entrepreneurs Joe and Veena Naszady are so excited to lead the Shop Local Movement in Brockville, with the launch of ShopBrockville.ca.

Joe and Veena envision a bustling downtown core with no vacant storefronts and the kind of friendly shopping experience they recall enjoying as children. The Naszadys see ShopBrockville.ca as a way to help locally-owned businesses in their hometown band together to create a powerful site for supporting local while taking on the big box stores and online competition that offers low prices and quick delivery.

No strangers to the world of small business with two ventures already under their belts – an IT company and a sales training company – Joe and Veena are now making it three with ShopBrockville.ca.

For almost 30 years Joe has provided technical services, website design and more to Brockville businesses through his company NaszTech Systems Inc., while Veena’s background in marketing and advertising saw her work her way up to a position as Director of Sales, Marketing and Advertising at a local newspaper company.

After spending almost eight years as a private mailman in paradise, an Alberta man is making a splash with a new Shop Local campaign for Sherwood Park. Recently returned from Belize, Rob Hanke says he’s looking forward to seeing ShopSherwoodPark.com grow and serve the community.

Sherwood Park, Alberta is what Rob calls a “true bedroom community” with no defined downtown, but a deep-rooted community support for local business. Sherwood Park, considered a large hamlet just East of Edmonton, wasn’t even established until the mid-1950s. Since then, population has grown rapidly to over 68,000 – with many residents working in the Edmonton core and living in Sherwood Park. Despite the close proximity to the city, Sherwood Park is far enough away from Edmonton to have its own sense of community and a range of shopping options.

After years of traveling with his wife Sheila, Rob finally decided in 2009 to put down some roots in the Caribbean. No stranger to the world of small business, he purchased a Mailboxes Etc. franchise in beautiful Belize.

Now, seven and a half years later Rob and Sheila are back in Canada to spend more time with their young grandchildren and aging parents.

Even with a background in the oil and gas business, Rob found it hard to secure the right job as Alberta’s economy muddles through the downturn. Overqualified for many of the opportunities he was responding to, Rob decided to make his own way in Alberta by returning to the world of small business ownership. He says he knows ShopSherwoodPark.com is exactly what the city needs to help combat the effects of poor economic times in Alberta.

“My goal with ShopSherwoodPark.com is to make sure that “shop local” aren’t just words you say,” said new City Manager, Rob Hanke. “Now there’s actually something tangible that consumers and business owners in Sherwood Park can gravitate to and really truly shop locally with an online marketplace.”

“We are so thrilled to see the Shop Local Movement extending even further in Alberta with the launch of ShopSherwoodPark.com,” said Colin Pape, CEO of ShopCity.com. “Rob has a rich background in management and entrepreneurship, so he understands the struggles that come with running a small business and how to make businesses work. We know with Rob at the helm, ShopSherwoodPark.com will offer so much to his community.”

Rob was recently the subject of a feature article in the Sherwood Park News. Click here to read more about the launch of ShopSherwoodPark.com.

When he’s not gardening, playing with his grandchildren or out on walks with his wife and dog, Rob says his favourite local pastime is trying out new locally-owned restaurants. He says he is inspired by the opportunity to grow with ShopSherwoodPark.com and says he’s a believer in the saying that if you’re not moving, you’re not breathing. Only a month in, Rob has hit the ground running, making new connections in his community to ensure the growth and success of ShopSherwoodPark.com.

You can follow Rob and ShopSherwoodPark.com online through Facebook or visit ShopSherwoodPark.com for more information.

For a dad from just outside of Calgary, Alberta, starting his own business means he can spend more time with his son.

That’s what Kevin Joyce says excites him most personally about the launch of ShopAirdrie.com in Airdrie, Alberta.

“I’m excited to share the platform to let people know that you can stay in Airdrie and you don’t have to go to Calgary to buy items that you can find in your own back yard, ” Kevin says of the Shop Local movement. “Especially with the rise of Amazon.com, people are ordering online more and more. I figure let’s create our own Amazon.com locally — the potential is huge!”

ShopAirdrie.com is the latest ShopCity.com site to launch in Alberta, following the recent launches of ShopStAlbert.com and ShopSherwoodPark.com, as well as ShopRedDeer.com and ShopLethbridge.com.

“We are so excited to see our team in Alberta growing so quickly,” said ShopCity.com CEO Colin Pape. “I know that with Kevin’s charisma and empathy for the struggles small businesses face in Airdrie, that ShopAirdrie.com will have a great impact on the community.”

Kevin says he’s always tried to be positive and focus on what he has, not what he doesn’t.  For that reason he’s looking forward to leading ShopAirdrie.com with honesty, integrity and understanding. In his spare time he frequents his son’s hockey games, focuses on fitness and is a self-proclaimed board game whiz.

You can follow Kevin and ShopAirdrie.com on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Or, visit ShopAirdrie.com to find out what’s happening in this Alberta community.

Airdrie is a community of a just over 60,000, up the Queen Elizabeth Highway from Calgary. Originally created as a railway stop during the building of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway, Airdrie has seen immense growth with new subdivisions, an industrial presence and hundreds of businesses built to serve the community.
With the launch of ShopAirdrie.com Kevin will be working with small and medium-sized locally-owned businesses to help push the Shop Local Movement in Airdrie.
Kevin is no stranger to the world of local business. Before moving to Alberta, Kevin owned and operated 6 Subway franchises in Sudbury, Ontario and opened up a successful jewelry store in Calgary after making the move out West.
He says he chose to launch ShopAirdrie.com because now he can help other businesses succeed while staying in control of his calendar, ensuring he’ll be able to be there for hockey games, school plays, and other important family events.

Kevin sees great opportunity in Airdrie as younger people move out of the city to start families in the community around him and wants to help these new residents connect with their local businesses. Kevin understands the struggle small business owners face in getting the word out about their businesses because he has experienced it himself.
 

“I’m excited to share the platform to let people know that you can stay in Airdrie and you don’t have to go to Calgary to buy items that you can find in your own back yard, ” Kevin says of the Shop Local movement. “Especially with the rise of Amazon.com, people are ordering online more and more. I figure let’s create our own Amazon.com locally — the potential is huge!”

ShopAirdrie.com is the latest ShopCity.com site to launch in Alberta, following the recent launches of ShopStAlbert.com and ShopSherwoodPark.com, as well as ShopRedDeer.com and ShopLethbridge.com.

“We are so excited to see our team in Alberta growing so quickly,” said ShopCity.com CEO Colin Pape. “I know that with Kevin’s charisma and empathy for the struggles small businesses face in Airdrie, that ShopAirdrie.com will have a great impact on the community.”

Kevin says he’s always tried to be positive and focus on what he has, not what he doesn’t.  For that reason he’s looking forward to leading ShopAirdrie.com with honesty, integrity and understanding. In his spare time he frequents his son’s hockey games, focuses on fitness and is a self-proclaimed board game whiz.
You can follow Kevin and ShopAirdrie.com on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Or, visit ShopAirdrie.com to find out what’s happening in this Alberta community.

For a determined entrepreneur with experience in selling everything from “lipstick to cars”, the Shop Local Movement is an easy fit. This week we are welcoming new City Manager Arlene Merrill as she launches ShopStAlbert.com in St. Albert, Alberta. With a long background in sales and small business ownership, Arlene is ramping up her business with a drive to help other small business owners in St. Albert do the same.

For the Merrills, ShopStAlbert.com is truly a family affair. Eldest son Klark is already joining Arlene on calls to learn more about the new family business, 15-year-old Braxtyn will be helping build a social media presence for ShopStAlbert and Arlene’s husband Bryan is on board to help the business grow.

You can connect with Arlene through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Or, read more about ShopStAlbert.com in this recent St. Albert Gazette news story.

After spending almost four years as a real estate agent in Mexico, Arlene and the Merrill family are back in Alberta and ready to get started building a family business in St. Albert. In 2013, the Merrills sold their home in Alberta and jumped into an RV to begin an epic journey across the United States that later landed them in sunny Mexico. Three and a half years later, the family is back and are now working hard as a team to drive local shopping in the city of St. Albert.

St. Albert is located on the Sturgeon River just North West of Edmonton, Alberta and is home to a charming downtown and around 65,000 Albertans. The city is filled with hard-working small business owners and is a hub for arts, culture and heritage in the Edmonton Region. As the home of Western Canada’s largest outdoor farmers’ market, St. Albert is the perfect place to launch a Shop Local campaign like ShopStAlbert.com.

Arlene says she knows from experience that in small business it can be tough deciding how to market yourself, and having time to do it all yourself is a challenge, both problems she knows ShopStAlbert.com can address for the small business community.

“The big goal is to bring those small businesses together in camaraderie,” said Arlene Merrill, new City Manager of ShopStAlbert.com. “When I talk to small business owners I see that they’re all having the same core struggles. I would love to eventually launch a community hub where we could have those conversations at a Friday night mixer or a seminar and come together to help support each other. That’s the dream for ShopStAlbert.com.”

“Arlene embodies the drive, passion and personality of small business in St. Albert,” said ShopCity.com CEO, Colin Pape. “There is no doubt in my mind that her community and local economy are about to benefit from her work with ShopStAlbert.com and the ShopCity.com model in a big way.”

For the Merrills, ShopStAlbert.com is truly a family affair. Eldest son Klark is already joining Arlene on calls to learn more about the new family business, 15-year-old Braxtyn will be helping build a social media presence for ShopStAlbert and Arlene’s husband Bryan is on board to help the business grow.

You can connect with Arlene through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Or, read more about ShopStAlbert.com in this recent St. Albert Gazette news story.

For the Merrills, ShopStAlbert.com is truly a family affair. Eldest son Klark is already joining Arlene on calls to learn more about the new family business, 15-year-old Braxtyn will be helping build a social media presence for ShopStAlbert and Arlene’s husband Bryan is on board to help the business grow.
You can connect with Arlene through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Or, read more about ShopStAlbert.com in this recent St. Albert Gazette news story.

An entrepreneur, hockey coach, and proud Thunder Bay father is spearheading a new Shop Local campaign in his hometown.

Thunder Bay, the most populated city in Northwestern Ontario, is home to more than 100,000 Canadians. Located on the shores of  Lake Superior, Thunder Bay is a natural paradise and mecca for those who enjoy the great outdoors, with world-class boating, hiking and camping all around the city.
Darrin’s vision is to create a one-stop online shopping destination with ShopThunderBay.com that will make it easier for consumers to shop locally first, and choose to keep their dollars in the community instead of sending them south of the border.

As I’ve immersed myself into the Shop Local concept and been visiting and speaking with local business owners, it’s so clear that big box stores and online shopping are really killing our communities,” said ShopThunderbay.com Owner Darrin Nicholas. “You’ve got two choices: you either stand there and watch it dwindle away or you put a stake in the ground and try to do something about it. I guess I’m choosing the latter.”

Darrin came to entrepreneurship early when he purchased a Thunder Bay insurance brokerage at the age of 23. After selling the brokerage he stayed on for more than a decade to help keep the business thriving. Most recently, Darrin served as a Regional Sales Manager for a large propane company. With the launch of ShopThunderBay.com Darrin is making a move back to business ownership, while working to help promote many of the businesses he’s connected with over the years, along with new businesses opening up in his hometown.

“Many of the businesses in our Northern Ontario communities are struggling to survive with the rise of online shopping,” said ShopCity.com CEO, Colin Pape. “We are excited to have people like Darrin — with a genuine passion for Shop Local — to lead the charge as we work to bring the Shop Local Movement back to cities across Canada. Darrin’s love for local and his strong background in entrepreneurship and sales will be a boon for Thunder Bay and the businesses that call it home.”

Darrin has coached minor hockey in Thunder Bay for over 30 years, including the Lakehead University Thunderwolves, and says he’s most proud of his own boys (Evan and Nolan), who are both pursuing hockey dreams — one finishing up high school and the other playing Canada’s game at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Darrin says in life, coaching and business he always reminds himself and others that “adversity doesn’t build character, but it reveals character.”

Local Thunder Bay businesses can now add their business to the online community directory at www.shopthunderbay.com/add

Find ShopThunderBay.com online, on Facebook or on Twitter. Or, connect with Darrin online through LinkedIn.

 

 
We talk a lot at ShopCity.com about why consumers should support local businesses, so this time we’re going to switch it around. Let’s talk instead about why and how local businesses should support their customers, nearby businesses and sometimes their competitors (gasp!).

1. Wow Your Customers

When your customer comes through your door, gives you a call or even texts you… wow them! With so many choices on the table these days, when a customer contacts you it means they’ve made a deliberate decision to support local rather than online, big box or out-of-town. Let’s celebrate those small decisions and encourage more of them. Let’s congratulate those customers for making the right decision. And selfishly, let’s make sure they tell all their friends about us and why they just love supporting local businesses. Amazing customer service is one of the top two reasons to support local businesses (that and building a stronger local economy), so let’s blow their socks off with unmatched support and service!

2. Talk Up Nearby Businesses

The great part about small business is that we are surrounded by other entrepreneurs with the same passion, the same challenges and the same drive to make it happen. In a time where online, big box retailers and corporate service providers are breathing down our necks, we also need to support each other. It’s refreshing to walk into a local store and see a board of loca business cards right at the front door. Or to hear an entrepreneur build up another by making a suggestion to a shopped. It’s something we need to all do a little more of. As business owners, let’s educate our customers about the other “Shop Local” resources we have in our community. Let’s come together and create a web of local business; it will only make each of our businesses stronger. Share a post on social media, recommend a local business to a customer, collaborate on an event or promotion: Let’s build each other up!

3. Send Business To Your Competitors

It might seem out of the ordinary to suggest that you should support your competitors, but when it comes to Shop Local it’s not a “Me vs. You” fight, it’s an all out “Us vs. Them” throwdown (Us = Local Biz, Them = The Big Guys). I see this at businesses in Brantford all the time: a local downtown business owner brings their newly-opened competition down the block a welcome plant, a family-owned garden centre doesn’t have exactly what a customer needs, but suggests a local option down the road. Sometimes, we can’t fulfill the needs of every customer who comes knocking, but knowing someone local – even if they’re your competitor – keeps that consumer spending in our local economy. It usually also means they will come back around when they need something else, because you’ve proven to be a reliable expert in your industry. That means something.

Let’s get a little more connected, let’s create amazing experiences for our local supporters, let’s build each other up and let’s do everything we can do – together – to keep it local. If it’s “Us vs. Them” your small business community can kick some “big box” butt!
 

Millennials are the first generation on the planet to have grown up completely and totally connected to the world through a screen. And now, as they get older and find good -paying gigs, they are also the first generation to be targeted by algorithms and then inundated with online advertising for instant-ship goods that magically show up on their doorstep by trains, planes and automobiles (and drones) in almost the blink of an eye. I’ll give it to millennials –full disclosure: I being one of them– they are also some of the most inquisitive, caring and mindful consumers out there. They were raised with the ability to use the Internet to do the research about what they are getting before they get it — online, to read reviews about products or services from peers around the world — online, and most notably, to find the best deal they can — online. So, the question was raised to me, if I can find it online for less… why buy local? It’s a valid question from any deal-minded shopper; Why not go where the best deal is?

The “shop local” counter-point for this question has always been: “Who says the best deal isn’t in a local shop?” But, I’m not sure that quite covers it anymore. As retailers and service providers alike struggle to keep up with pricing in a buy-it-for-pennies-from-China world, sometimes it is true that a local shop will have a higher price than one posted on Amazon or at a box store. Pricing in a local store has so many more considerations: rent, staff, hydro bills, charitable donations, smaller buying power, etc… What deal-friendly millennials need to understand (and I would argue that a lot of them do) is that when they pay $5 more for an item at a local shop, they are paying for more than just the product. They are paying for the expertise of a store owner who often has decades of experience in their field. They are paying for the opportunity to pose their questions about the product or service to a real person. They are paying for the opportunity to hold someone accountable for an item that might not work quite as they’d hoped. They are paying for the experience of shopping in a community-driven store that actually cares about whether or not they are buying the right thing, not the easy thing. They are paying for the convenience of not having to pack up that easy (but inevitably wrong) item to ship it back for a return. They are paying to keep a store that will one day sponsor their kid’s hockey team in business.

Yes, you’re not always going to be able to find everything you want locally (that Grumpy Cat ugly Christmas sweater just never made it into a shop near you), and that’s okay. The message here is when you have the option, buy locally. Do your research online and then head out to a local store. And I beg of you, do not do the opposite — research in-store and then buy it online. That’s just criminal.

As the ShopCity.com network continues to expand, this week we’re celebrating a milestone closer to home.

We are proud to announce that our flagship local site, ShopMidland.com, has crossed one million dollars in total subscription revenue generated.

ShopMidland.com was launched in April of 2000 as a guerrilla marketing campaign organized for local merchants by ShopCity.com CEO, Colin Pape.

Back then, Colin was just 20-years old, and had been building websites for a couple of years in his home community of Midland, Ontario, population 17,500.

It had just been announced that Walmart and Home Depot were coming to town and many business owners were worried that they were going to lose their livelihoods, including Colin’s parents who owned a retail paint store called ‘Topline Paint & Colour’.

Colin decided to leverage the power of the internet to mount an online shop local campaign and one night put up 150 signs around town on all of the street posts that read ‘ShopMidland.com – Support Your Community’. Overnight, a local movement was born.

Soon store owners started asking to display ShopMidland.com signs in their windows and wanted to get listed on the site. The campaign continued to grow and grow, until the ShopMidland.com model began spreading to nearby communities. This would eventually lead to the founding of ShopCity.com in 2008.

“I had no idea back then that ShopMidland.com would one day generate more than a million dollars in revenue and serve as the model for dozens of community shop local campaigns” said Colin, as he discusses the genesis of the ShopCity.com model that enables small merchants to power their own local Amazon.com-like site.

One million dollars in revenue is especially significant considering the small population of the area, with less than 20,000 people.

The site that started with zero revenue and a $500 marketing budget now generates more than $250,000 in recurring revenue per year, a number that’s growing rapidly – more than 50% last year alone.

The success of the site has been made possible by the enthusiastic support of business owners in Midland; many of the businesses that subscribed originally back in 2000 are still customers to this day.

And with the increase in business content, the site has become more and more valuable to consumers who log more than 40,000 unique visits per month.

With the ShopMidland.com model now definitively proven, other cities across North America are now adopting the model, with the goal of surpassing the same milestone in the future.

“Successful local independent businesses ensure vibrant communities and strong local economies,” said Rick Kloss, ShopCity.com’s General Manager. “Our growth and success in Midland proves that local businesses can thrive in a globalized world.”

ShopCity.com now hosts active local sites across Canada and into the United States, and we’re only just beginning; with more than 8,000 domains in the ShopCity.com portfolio, there are many more communities where the ShopMidland.com model can have an impact.

As we grow, we are grateful to the Midland community for their support and enabling ShopCity.com to grow strong from the ground up.

The world’s original Business Improvement Area (BIA) is celebrating another first as it works to encourage Toronto residents to spend their money locally in Bloor West Village.

We are excited to announce the Bloor West Village BIA has purchased the rights to the ShopCity.com platform to launch the first online-offline Shop Local campaign of its kind by a Business Improvement Area.

In 1970, the Bloor West Village Business Improvement Area was formed as the world’s first BIA* to help support local retailers struggling due to the rising popularity of shopping malls. With retailers now facing newer, more fierce competition online, the BIA is innovating again to support some of those same local independents with the launch of a ShopBloorWest.com. ShopBloorWest.com joins a growing family of Shop Local sites from across Canada, run by Midland, Ontario tech firm ShopCity.com

“ShopCity.com is so excited to partner with the Bloor West Village BIA,” said ShopCity.com founder, Colin Pape. “With Bloor West’s rich tradition of firsts –including the creation of the first Business Improvement Area in the world– it’s no surprise that they’re once again pioneers, this time in the world of online commerce with the launch of ShopBloorWest.com.”

The online campaign includes a brand new Shop Local marketplace for the Bloor West Village BIA to help draw the attention of consumers on computers and mobile phones through Google searches. The website incorporates a shopping search engine, local business directory and publishing suite, allowing locally-owned businesses to post full catalogs of goods and services, share news and promotions, post deals and coupons and connect with current and potential customers by email. The online launch is paired with a brand new website for the BIA and a local advertising campaign to draw attention to the Shop Local effort.

“ShopBloorWest.com brings us online with all of our products and services, so when customers search locally they’ll be able to find what they’re looking for and stay local,” said Bloor West Village BIA Chair, David Howitt. “The ShopCity.com platform finally gives us an opportunity to grow visits to Bloor West Village, and to measure our successes online through web traffic.”

For more information, visit www.ShopBloorWest.com or www.BloorWestVillageBIA.com

* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BID

We were excited to announce back in August that Carson and Kelly Kramer were the new City Managers of ShopWasaga.com.
Today, we are even more thrilled to announce the expansion of their Shop Local Movement into Central Ontario. The Kramers are now City Managers of ShopBarrie.comand ShopCollingwood.com, sites serving Barrie and Collingwood, Ontario, that are growing rapidly with the help of dedicated community advocates

To celebrate the expansion, we asked the Kramers to answer a few questions about the area, the ShopCity.com model, and what inspires them about where they live.

What professional background do you have that led you to ShopCity.com?

Carson: Kelly and I ran –as a team– our own manufacturing company for over 30 years. With that experience we can relate to small businesses. We were the owners and operators of the company and with the help of our employees, we managed to grow for many years.

Kelly: We understand the struggles of small business.

Why do you advocate for the Shop Local movement?

Kelly: Because we do recognize how small businesses struggle to survive out there against those bigger companies. The ShopCity.com model is giving them the tools they need to compete.

Carson: We buy into the model that Colin promotes with ShopCity.com. Shop locally and keep the money here. We fully understand what’s going on. We need to keep money within the community. Following that concept, we believe in it, that’s one of the reasons we are supporting this.You started with ShopWasaga.com and now you are extending your network to next-door Barrie and Collingwood.

Why did you decide to expand beyond Wasaga?

Carson: After our manufacturing company we wanted to do something totally different, so we went into web development. Kelly did a lot of IT stuff for the company, so we decided to retrain in programming. Kelly was doing front-end and I was doing back-end development for websites and we found that the ShopCity.com model answered a lot of our clients’ needs. We were impressed with it, so we thought we would try Wasaga to see how this product complements the website business. When we found that we were getting pretty successful results and that people liked it we decided that we should expand into other centres. We were already selling websites as far down as Hamilton, so it’s not a problem for us to expand into the communities next door.

What would be your advice to new or prospective City Managers?

Carson: We still consider ourselves new managers! Kelly has more hands-on experience with the accounts than I do, because I’ve been organizing the overall structure and piecing together how to manage multiple areas. Kelly has concentrated on learning first hand what the platform can do, so she’s able to get in front of people and present it. For new City Managers, from what I see in Kelly, understanding the system is the key to selling it.

Kelly: If you understand the tools we offer, you realize there’s something for every company you talk to. So, if you can get their attention for a few minutes and find out what they need, you can offer them these tools and it’s almost like an easy sell when you can show them how it will help their company. As a web developer, which is what we did for the last 5 years, I see the value in how it can help small companies. Whether it’s putting a coupon out there to help promote them, or easily sending a newsletter so they can get the word out, and then updating their website automatically… If you can just get time to figure out what they need, there’s something for everybody out there with this program.

What is it about Collingwood, Wasaga Beach and Barrie that make them wonderful places to live, work and shop?

Carson: I like this area because it’s like the playground of Ontario. You’ve got your skiing, watersports, the world’s longest freshwater beach, which is nice and shallow for kids… You’ve got fishing and campgrounds, so it’s recreational from a standard of living point of view and also it’s a great opportunity for the local ShopCity.com model because local businesses here need to support themselves. We don’t have the kind of infrastructure the city has where we get high volume traffic and people are coming through and buying products and services on a regular basis. Here, it’s a lot of tourism in the local economy and I think that’s one of the reasons we like the area so much. We’ve invested in the area because there are so many local activities happening here.

Kelly: Each of the centres we own has been home to me at one point in my life. I was raised just on the Innisfil border, so I went to school in Barrie. I’ve lived in Collingwood and Wasaga, so all of these areas have been home.

How do you get involved in your community?

Kelly: We are members of the Chamber in Wasaga Beach and in Barrie. I am part of the women’s business association. We are joining the BNI group in Barrie and probably the one in Collingwood shortly, so we are involved in different membership organizations in the area.

Carson: We are members at Devil’s Glen and we have memberships to Blue Mountain, so we also participate in local sports activities as well.

What are you most proud of?

Kelly: My kids!

Carson: That’s what I was going to say, we’ve got two great kids.

What’s your favourite album of all time?

Kelly: That’s too hard, you should see our collection! We listen to everything. Right from classic, to country, to rock.

Carson: I don’t really have a favourite, because things change for me depending upon how much I’ve listened to different music.

If you could meet one famous influencer alive today, who would you meet?

Kelly: Tony Robbins

Carson: Elon Musk

What is your favourite thing that you can buy locally?

Carson: Apples are great!

Kelly: We also have a lot of good restaurants up here.

Carson: The other thing that’s really great locally is corn.

Kelly: We’ve got a lot of good farmer’s markets and fresh food. You can pick up everything from fresh steak that was just cut in the morning to apples that were picked the day before or today. You can’t beat the fresh produce up here.

ShopCity.com is making news!

We’re excited to announce that ShopCity.com was featured in the September 18th edition of the Toronto Sun.

The article centers around how we’re helping local businesses participate in the booming online shopping space, and how our unique City Manager program puts local owners in each community — offering our powerful platform to their local businesses.

Unlike most other ecommerce services, ShopCity.com’s founder grew up with parents who ran a retail business that did almost all of its business locally. This has shaped our focus in a subtle but profound way: rather than try to help businesses sell to the world, we are helping local businesses reach their local customers using the internet. And, people are taking notice.

We’d like to thank the Sun for its coverage of ShopCity.com and its mission.

Click the link below to read the article on the Sun website:

www.torontosun.com/2016/09/18/shopcitycom-creating-new-way-to-shop-locally

Just 35 minutes from the site of ShopCity.com‘s first shop local site, ShopMidland.com, Wasaga Beach sits nestled in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country on the shores of Georgian Bay.
With a population of just over 17,000, Wasaga Beach is host to thousands of warm weather revelers during the summer months. For residents and tourists alike, a major draw to Wasaga Beach is the small businesses who call it home.
That’s why we’re proud to announce the launch of ShopWasaga.com, with new City Managers Kelly and Carson Kramer.  

Carson and Kelly Kramer are long-time entrepreneurs with over 30 years experience in business, including the founding and expansion of an international automotive manufacturing company.The Kramers retired to Wasaga Beach from Oakville in 2010, where they launched a web development business, Shine Web Creations.
 

During their time as small business owners in the Wasaga area they’ve experienced the struggles of surviving in a tourist town first-hand. After 6 years in the digital marketing industry in Wasaga Beach, Kelly and Carson have seen the toll bad weather can take on businesses, so they went looking for a way to help local businesses survive and be found online, even if the summer weather doesn’t cooperate.
“When we found ShopCity.com we saw the amazing potential that the program offered to local businesses and the synergy with our web design business. We realized pretty quickly that we had found the answer to our clients’ challenges,” said Kelly Kramer, ShopWasaga.com City Manager. “Now we can offer our local, small businesses amazing options that normally would cost thousands of dollars to have developed in a custom site, all at an affordable price.”
Carson and Kelly are excited to get started on their mission to help strengthen Wasaga Beach’s local business community. ShopWasaga.com gives these local businesses the ability to get found and noticed online by residents, throughout the Canadian seasons. Wasaga’s Shop Local search engine will also allow visitors to discover retailers carrying the products they are looking for, service providers to help assist during their stay or with their vacation property and local restaurants to visit along the way.

“The ShopCity.com platform offers tourist towns like Wasaga Beach the opportunity to capitalize on increased foot traffic in the summer months, while helping businesses market their products and services to residents during the winter,” said ShopCity.com founder Colin Pape. “We are so excited to have Kelly and Carson on board as they continue to help local businesses build their online presence.”
Find ShopWasaga.com online, or follow them on social media through Facebook and Twitter.

ShopCity.com’s network of sites is growing again.

ShopWoodstock.com officially launches today and has started rolling out in the community of Woodstock in Southern Ontario.
 
ShopWoodstock.com’s new owners are Mark and Mallory Kean, competitive curlers with deep roots in the area.
 
Mark and Mallory have competed together in two Mixed Doubles National Championships and one Provincial Championship. Mark’s Team Kean team were the Ontario Men’s Curling Champions in 2015 and they represented Team Ontario at The Brier, Canadian Men’s Championships, in Calgary that same year.
   

In addition to sports, Mark and Mallory are no strangers to the world of business. In 2013, Mark opened Runback, a provider of high quality custom performance apparel for curlers. Mallory, on the other hand, brings wealth of knowledge in Digital Media; with almost 7 years in the industry working for Metroland Newspapers, Mallory understands the importance of digital marketing for small businesses.

With their background as high-performance athletes and business owners, we know ShopWoodstock.com is in great hands and will provide a powerful boost for local businesses in Woodstock.

“We are excited to see ShopWoodstock.com grow with Mark and Mallory in charge,” said ShopCity.com founder Colin Pape. “I know their proven leadership and passion for all things Woodstock will ensure they’re successful in supporting local businesses and strengthening Woodstock’s local economy.”

“Woodstock has so much potential and just needs a guiding hand to kick start things,” said new City Manager Mallory Kean. “I know ShopWoodstock.com is exactly the fresh boost of energy local business owners could use to help get more people shopping downtown!”
 

 

Mark and Mallory live in Woodstock with their son Parker and their daughter Kaleigh. Mark grew up in Innerkip, a little town just outside of Woodstock, and while Mallory is newer to the area, the Keans are both passionate supporters of Woodstock, its businesses, residents and natural beauty.

Click here to find ShopWoodstock.com online, on Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Our ‘Local People’ series focuses on community leaders who help move the ‘Shop Local Movement’ forward by partnering with ShopCity.com. In 2012, Dee O’Riordan and his wife Taija became a pair of ShopCity.com’s first City Managers. Their love for Muskoka, its towns, lakes and spirit led them to ShopMuskoka.com and they’ve been working hard ever since. We asked Dee to dig deeper into his community, his life and why he loves running ShopMuskoka.com.
 

Tell us three interesting things about yourself.
I’m a Qualified Commercial Pilot & Flight Instructor
I have a Black Belt in Tae-Kwon-Do
I’m a total Sci-Fi Nerd
 
What inspires you?
Success
 
If you could meet one famous influencer alive today, who would you meet?
Richard Branson
 
What’s your mantra?
If someone offers you an amazing business opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later.
 
Favourite artist of all time
Buddy Holly  

Why do you choose to live in Muskoka?
It’s beautiful and I am a small town guy. I could not live in a huge city.

How are you involved in your community?
I coach youth soccer every summer. We volunteer for local charity and events.
I am also on the Revenue Committee for the Bracebridge Chamber of Commerce and I’m a former Rotarian

What’s your favourite thing to buy locally?
Locally grown produce.

What’s your favourite activity in Muskoka?
Lake activities like boating.

Why do you advocate for the Shop Local movement?
Because everyone wins when you shop locally.

??????What makes Muskoka unique?
Muskoka is known for its beauty. Celebrities from all over the world agree, which is why they have summer homes here.

What’s one thing you can only buy in Muskoka?
Muskoka Chairs!

Give us three words that describe Muskoka?
Beauty, Luxury, Lifestyle

 

Why did you decide to become a city manager with ShopMuskoka.com?
Being one of the very first City Managers, I saw the potential right from the beginning. The business model is set up in a way where everyone wins. The Business owner wins, the consumer wins, and the City Manager wins. Plus, city managers can link and partner with other local organizations, so both can benefit from working together. It’s the perfect business model. Having residual income while helping local businesses, doesn’t hurt either.

What’s your professional background?
I have a degree in Sports Science & Math, I was a commercial pilot and have my flight instructor rating.

What struggles are local business owners in Muskoka facing?
Muskoka business owners need to make the most of their income in the busy season. They have a very short window.

What do you hope the future of Muskoka looks like?
I hope Muskoka can attract more tech savvy businesses and not solely rely on tourists. Having an industry other than retail and trades is a must for Muskoka.

Where do you hope to see ShopMuskoka.com in 5 years?
In five years I hope to have our very own ShopMuskoka.com Hub. I also hope to have a ShopMuskoka.com delivery service to help our clients sell more online locally and get items delivered. I would like to have at least 4 full time staff (2 Admin/Graphic Design/Social Media and 2 Sales Reps).

What’s your advice for new or prospective city owners?
Never stop networking!

What’s your definition of an entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurs are innovators who use a process of shattering the status quo of existing products and services, to set up new products and new services.

Where can people find you on social media?
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Why do you shop locally?
I practice what I preach. Shopping locally helps build a better stronger community, something I believe very strongly in.

Check out ShopMuskoka.com today!

 

ShopCity.com is excited to announce the launch of ShopSaskatoon.ca and new City Manager Tyson Steele.
Tyson comes to the ShopCity.com family already well versed in the operation of a small business as the owner of Saskatoon’s Modern Martial Arts Center. This week, ShopCity.com General Manager Rick Kloss (left) visited Tyson (right) to help launch ShopSaskatoon.ca.  

We are excited to add Saskatoon to our growing family of over 30 Canadian cities that have joined the Shop Local movement. Over the next few months, Tyson and his team will be working hard to help locally-owned Saskatoon businesses connect with consumers in their community online. We are proud to have Tyson on the team to work with us to make shopping locally first as easy as possible in Saskatoon.

“I got interested in taking on the City Manager role in my attempt to find ways to better promote my gym online,” says Tyson Steele. “It’s such a competitive market and being a new, small business we struggled early on to be found online. I found ShopSaskatoon.ca and reached out to Colin and Nathan. After exchanging many emails with both them and other City Managers, I decided to take on the role!  Saskatoon is such a strong market for local entrepreneurs so I knew something like this would be well received. A huge part of it for me, was seeing how supportive the team is of one another. I have never once felt that I am tackling this project on my own.”

“All of us at ShopCity.com are really excited to have Tyson take ownership of ShopSaskatoon.ca! With his never-give-up attitude, experience as a small business owner and passion for Saskatoon, I am certain Tyson will be successful in this venture.” says ShopCity.com founder, Colin Pape.

To see Tyson’s new ShopCity.com site, visit www.shopsaskatoon.ca.

It’s been a busy year since the grand opening of our flagship ShopMidland.com Local Hub in Downtown Midland, Ontario.

We’re excited about what we’ve learned in this new facility as we continue to bridge the online and offline worlds in this picturesque, yet fairly typical small community.

There are thousands of towns and cities just like Midland that are trying to find their place in a world dominated by big box stores, chains and large metropolitan areas.

These outside forces threaten the livelihood of communities by drawing revenue away from the downtown cores that are the heart of the community, creating a void in the very fabric of small-town society.

Since we setup the Local Hub at the corner of the main intersection of downtown, in an old bank facility, truly becoming part of the downtown community, we’ve multiplied our resolve to help create strong, vibrant downtowns, and ultimately, stronger local economies.

The model that we’ve developed, with the Local Hub at the center, is unique in the world, but can be replicated just about anywhere through the ShopCity.com City Manager program.

This program encourages spenders to shop locally, shifting spending to local businesses and leveraging the local multiplier effect to build a stronger local economy.

The model is always evolving, especially the online platform that connects the local business community. Through shared best practices, shared resources and the centralization of some difficult-to-launch processes, we enable passionate entrepreneurs, municipal governments and community groups to re-create our successes, relationships and infrastructure in their own communities.

Momentum has started to build, and it looks like the next 12 months are going to be explosive.

If you’re interested in partnering with us, send an email to partners@shopcity.com and if you aren’t already on our mailing list, sign up here and we’ll keep you posted.

We’ve got a number of announcements to make about new products and new business developments throughout 2015.

Stay tuned!

We’re excited about what we’ve learned in this new facility as we continue to bridge the online and offline worlds in this picturesque, yet fairly typical small community.

There are thousands of towns and cities just like Midland that are trying to find their place in a world dominated by big box stores, chains and large metropolitan areas.

These outside forces threaten the livelihood of communities by drawing revenue away from the downtown cores that are the heart of the community, creating a void in the very fabric of small-town society.

Since we setup the Local Hub at the corner of the main intersection of downtown, in an old bank facility, truly becoming part of the downtown community, we’ve multiplied our resolve to help create strong, vibrant downtowns, and ultimately, stronger local economies.

The model that we’ve developed, with the Local Hub at the center, is unique in the world, but can be replicated just about anywhere through the ShopCity.com City Manager program.

This program encourages spenders to shop locally, shifting spending to local businesses and leveraging the local multiplier effect to build a stronger local economy.

The model is always evolving, especially the online platform that connects the local business community. Through shared best practices, shared resources and the centralization of some difficult-to-launch processes, we enable passionate entrepreneurs, municipal governments and community groups to re-create our successes, relationships and infrastructure in their own communities.

Momentum has started to build, and it looks like the next 12 months are going to be explosive.

If you’re interested in partnering with us, send an email to partners@shopcity.com and if you aren’t already on our mailing list, sign up here and we’ll keep you posted.

We’ve got a number of announcements to make about new products and new business developments throughout 2015.

Stay tuned!