Christine Whelan FEO, July 21, 2022, VOL. 3 ISSUE 24

Stevensville is growing. And as it continues to grow and prosper, a need has risen to revisit how the members of the community will continue to support each other, moving forward.

A Special Business Community meeting was held on June 15th and all businesses who are considered a part of Stevensville were invited.

You can’t get any more downtown or any more central to the core of Stevensville than where Michael Sandler and FENA Insurance Solutions Inc. have brought their business to the community.

“We’re sort of the newbies in town.” Michael explained. “When the Co-operators moved out of Stevensville, they left a fantastic building on the corner, right on Main Street and Stevensville Road. We have so many clients who live in Stevensville who said they’d like to be able to pop in instead of having to go to Niagara Falls,” where their main office is located. In addition, there were already a number of members of their staff who lived in the community. As Sandler said, it just made sense.

“It’s a wonderful town. It has its very own feel. Everyone knows everybody else. We’re just trying to bring as much as we can, as the newcomers, to our new community.”

Sandler began to explain the current state of Stevensville. “There has been a business support group for a number of years which has been doing a grand job, with Mary-Lou Ambrose-Little,” Stevensville’s Market Manager,”tirelessly volunteering to help. The group has been meeting monthly. It promotes the businesses, it shares around the directory, shares around the events and promotes the farmers’ market.

“There was a feeling that with all the growth we’re seeing, in development, there was a real need to take that one step forward and look at things. We’d love people to not just drive through Stevensville, but to actually stop and walk around, see that we have some new businesses that have just joined the family.”

So, invitations to the meeting on June 15th went out to all the local businesses. “Not just the ones that would be a part of a business investment group, but all the local businesses to actually get together.

“Mayor Redekop came to promote and talk about it, along with Tom Lewis, who runs the Business Investment Association in the Fort Erie area. He spoke about what it entails and what the pros and cons are.”

A significant number of the local businesses turned up that evening. “They came to talk about how we could all help each other, going forward, in terms of what that would look like. Did we go the formal, business investment association route or did we look to the current business support group, a different route for the time being?”

The Outcome

Sandler began to share the considerations discussed at the meeting. “Fortunately, Stevensville already has a strong community drive. We have the fair in the fall. We have garden fairs. So, a lot of what a BIA would be in place for already has a significant amount of volunteer support driving that.”

Another very important factor was considered. “Although there is a very core center, there are a lot of companies and businesses on the outskirts who are a part of the community that wouldn’t be captured if we went to a formal BIA. They wouldn’t be within the geographical boundaries.”

Michael added that Mary-Lou has a long list of accomplishments that have been made so far without a BIA.

Coming to some conclusions, “The general view was, we do need to step up and do more. We noticed over COVID, that the number of people on the Zoom calls was less and less. So, we do need to get a re-injection of business, particularly with some challenges coming up. There’s the re-construction of Stevensville Road. What’s that going to do in terms of diverting traffic away? How can we make the ‘small town feel’ work, but also increase the walking traffic?”

He continued, “I would say it was almost a unanimous feel that we didn’t want to go with the BIA route, at least at the moment. But we definitely want to keep the promotion, the local directory, the businesses helping each other, promoting the farmers’ market and keep all the festivals going.

“Also, to work with the other BIA’s in the Fort Erie area to help get the word out, beyond the Fort Erie area, to encourage people to not just come to Niagara Falls and return, but to also check out all the wonderful businesses that surround Niagara Falls.”

There is a huge voice for a grocery store, according to Michael. “Stevensville doesn’t have a big grocery store. It’s been on the agenda for a long time. And now, when you look at all the development that is going up, there’s logic to having a great grocery store in the area to start bringing people in.”

Sandler commented that a grocery store would be like an anchor for the community. People would come to shop for food and hopefully walk around, stepping into other shops. “Other businesses would benefit.”

The agreement coming out of the June 15th meeting was that, while there would be a small group of people meeting monthly, “There was a great feeling that everyone getting together, talking and sharing, felt good and that it should be done more on a regular basis. Maybe doing it once or twice a year. We know everyone is busy with their businesses but getting together and really nailing it, nailing the details, is what we need to do to keep things working.”

Communication is key, according to Michael. He says they utilize an emailing list. “There’s a Stevensville email list that everyone uses and promotes on. Mary-Lou is on top of the email system. She also keeps the Facebook Page going.”

To keep tabs on the regularly-updated Facebook Page, search Downtown Stevensville.

Photo provided by the Downtown Stevensville Facebook Page