Business walks are returning to downtown Abbotsford later this month.
The City of Abbotsford and the Abbotsford Downtown Business Association will be hosting the walks on Thursday, Sept. 28.
The walks are aiming to connect with local ADBA businesses and receive feedback on what opportunities and challenges they face operating in our community.
Mayor, council, the ADBA board, Abbotsford staff and community volunteers will visit with the businesses, provide them with a package of resources and conduct a survey containing a number of questions.
“As the cultural and economic Hub of the Fraser Valley, local businesses are at the heart of our community and the backbone of our economy, and we want to see them thrive,” stated Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens. “The City of Abbotsford is grateful to partner with the ADBA for the business walks to connect with business owners, operators and staff in historic downtown to learn more about what works well, the struggles they face and how we can make it easier on them to operate successfully in our community.”
Downtown was chosen for this year’s walks due to the considerable changes occurring in the area. Many new residential and mixed-use developments have launched and the ADBA and the City stated that they want to ensure they are put in a position to succeed.
“Over the past few years, businesses have faced incredible economic challenges with increased costs, a global pandemic and a changing workforce,” said the ADBA’s Jennifer McEwan. “The ADBA is eager to learn, along with the City of Abbotsford, from businesses first-hand how we can best advocate for their needs and do all we can to make historic downtown a destination for shopping, eating and operating a business.”
This information gathered will build on the learning from the Mayor and Council walks that took place on June 21, 2023, and help inform the development of the City of Abbotsford’s Business Retention and Expansion Strategy.
For more about economic development in the City of Abbotsford, visit abbotsford.ca/economicdevelopment.
