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| Local Business Saying No To Recession Thinking
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Swift Current Mall has been a landmark in the community for over 20 Years. Located at the junction of Highway 1 and 4, the Mall is one of the first stops many travelers make when they reach Swift Current. With Anchors such as Safeway and Walmart and a number of other local and National chains within the body of the facility, Swift Current Mall offers a variety of shopping opportunities for all ages. From the constant flow of traffic to the Mall and the latest paperwork, sales are strong at the local Mall despite the downturn in the world economy.
( Annie Narine- General Manager, SC Mall)
“So far as a whole Swift Current has been in a really successful bubble in 2008. We’re just riding out the skirt tails of a really successful 2008 in terms of sales increases year over year. We experienced 10 or 11 percent increases over the previous year, so I think the National climate, the National numbers was 2 or 3 percent for retail sales as a whole.”
Managing the Mall for the past 8 years, Narine has seen an abundance of growth in the community and within the property borders of the Swift Current Mall. From the exodus of Zellers to the import of the expanded Walmart, business and consumer confidence has remained strong locally and provincially to attract and retain major retailers, with strong continued prospects for 2009.
( Annie Narine- General Manager, SC Mall)
“We’re pretty lucky, we have disposable income, we have the choices, we have the service, we have whatever it takes to keep the economy spinning and we’re North of the border. I can’t really forecast just yet as to what kind of figures we’ll see year over year; but I anticipate some form of growth in 2009.”
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Across the Parking lot at the corner of Springs Drive and Battleford Trail lies The Brick. Now serving Swift Current and area since April of 2008, the National Furniture store has achieved optimum success in the local economy. General Manager, Mike Kesslar came back to his Swift Current roots to set up shop with the Brick after spending a number of years in Alberta. Although many things have remained the same such as the community’s quality of life and friendly atmosphere, the Business climate is more attractive on a number of fronts.
( Mike Kesslar- General Manager, The Brick)
“The job market is strong, they’re creating jobs in Saskatchewan while the rest of Canada, jobs are in retraction; so that in itself is enticing. Then the local Municipal Government here in Swift Current has been very encouraging with some great incentives for new businesses in town and the Provincial Government has been equally as kind. So, apart from the economy being really good in Saskatchewan or improving where the rest of the country is not, we’re incented to be here, plus it’s my home.”
Making the decision to open the Brick in Swift Current has worked out better than expected, with a second store now in Estevan. Kesslar stresses the furniture and electronics business is an area where he and his suppliers can work together to provide quality, competitive prices and service through the good and tough economic times. As the markets continue to fluctuate, consumers and retailers also need to work together to benefit the entire local economy.
( Mike Kesslar- General Manager, The Brick)
“When people talk about those kinds of things, the first instinct is to cut back, but that’s the worst thing we can do in our environment is to stop spending money. So I mean we have stable jobs, we have a stable economy in Saskatchewan, so the best thing we can do to make sure that we maintain all the jobs that we have and the environment that we have in Saskatchewan, is to continue on as we normally would. Be frugal, be smart, but keep doing what we need to do; because we need to keep the economy going.”
As spring approaches Kesslar remains confident his store sales will remain strong and the overall Saskatchewan air of prosperity will ride through the economic turmoil now happening across
the country.
( Mike Kesslar- General Manager, The Brick)
“The fact that there’s new businesses in town and more coming and development, is very exciting. Everything that happened in Alberta in the last ten years, I think is going to be happening here in Saskatchewan now. And I’m really looking forward to it.”
And when we asked each of our business professionals on their thoughts on the Media’s portrayal of the current world economic situation, they each had these comments.
( Annie Narine- General Manager, SC Mall)
“If you’re going to spin negative, negative, negative consistently at a National and Provincial level, that’s what everybody is going to buy into. When we’re doing really well, we should talk about it. When we’re progressive, we should talk about it, so that people would feel a higher level of confidence and optimism.”
( Mike Kesslar- General Manager, The Brick)
“But I guess it’s kind of like a bad car accident and a tragedy strikes a superstar in the movie industry. It makes for great headlines and gets people to watch the news and the media. But the reality is, that almost all of us are still running our same normal lives, have the same jobs, making the same amount of money and our lives are not going to change as much because of what’s happened. So we just need to keep plugging along.”
Join Southwest TV News in our next episode as we feature other Local Businesses “Saying No to Recession Thinking.”
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