Sidney businesses embarked on a plan to market the town as rumours of big box stores for the Peninsula swirl.
About 50 people sat around a table Monday night at the Sidney Pier Hotel to discuss the who, what, when, why and how much of a marketing strategy for Sidney. Among the ideas generated, a business improvement association received traction from most of the attendees.
“We’re going to move forward with potential BIA ideas,” said Doug Taylor, the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce’s executive director.
The idea of forming a BIA isn’t new to Sidney – the most recent push happened in December 2010.
Though Taylor moderated the meeting, he said the marketing initiative is community based and the Chamber wouldn’t necessarily lead the charge.
Angus Matthews, executive director of the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre, said as much as tourist dollars are key to Sidney’s economy, marketing should be directed at Island residents.
“The real market is in our own backyard,” Matthews said. “Sidney is the un-mall. It’s everything a mall isn’t. So big box doesn’t hurt us because big box is the opposite of us.”
Chamber president John Treleaven said the talks stem from a series of catalysts: the 2008 economic “meltdown,” the current economic catastrophes in Europe, businesses feeling the pain from a strong Canadian dollar against its American counterpart, and, perhaps most importantly, the proposal to open big box stores in Central Saanich, on Tsawout First Nation land and possibly in Keating.
They also stem from Sidney Mayor Larry Cross’ statements at the Feb. 20 Mayors’ Breakfast, hosted by the Chamber. With three business groups currently working to promote the community, the town needs to "combine the energies,” Cross said, to develop a "formidable marketing team."
Treleaven said he’d like to see the marketing strategy materialize, and soon.
“It’s not being built for the 40,000 that live on the Peninsula, it’s being built for the 350,000 that live in the region. We can get people from the big boxes from the Tsawout First Nation to enjoy Sidney. … There are countless examples across Canada of towns like Sidney that … have thrived in an environment where the major retailers have moved close by. But it’s not easy.”
Taylor said people shop differently at big box stores than at boutiques such as Sidney’s.
Monday’s meeting didn’t discuss how Peninsula businesses outside Sidney would be affected by the future marketing strategy, but Treleaven told the News Review they could prosper as well.
“They all benefit in the end from increased traffic, whatever the cause. Sidney was always one of the major traffic generators, as is Butchart Gardens. …We’re strongest when we work together.”
Matthews added, “It isn’t a matter of competing with those other sectors, it’s a matter of building a local destination.”
Taylor plans to post a summary of the meeting on the Chamber’s website. Dates for future meetings had not been set by press time.
The whole package
While Sidney businesses consider how to market the town as a destination for Capital region residents, the town has a plan of its own.
After the last election, Sidney Mayor Larry Cross said council would examining a new “vision” for the Beacon Avenue corridor – a move that hasn’t happened for a decade. No further details have come to light.