Our welcome map for business
June 04, 2008
The best place for business in all of Alberta is Red Deer.
Red Deer has nabbed the top spot in Alberta Venture Magazine’s ‘10 Best Communities for Business’ in the province.
The feature was recently released in the magazine’s June issue.
“I think this is very positive and very excellent,” said Colleen Jensen, acting city manager.
“I think it’s very reflective of the truth and to be acknowledged really speaks volumes.”
Graham Heron, president of the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce, said this ranking reaffirms what the city has been promoting.
“It’s nice to see our comments backed up in this ranking – that Red Deer is a business friendly location and it’s the idle place to set up a business,” he said. “We are pleasantly surprised.”
This is the first year Alberta Venture has recognized the best business communities in the province.
It is hoped to become an annual or bi-annual feature in the magazine.
“Other magazines do this same sort of thing but when you’re looking for a comparative of Alberta cities, there isn’t much past Edmonton and Calgary, so we wanted to look at the smaller communities and include them too,” said Michael McCullough, editor of Alberta Venture.
“We wanted to open up something to every municipality in Alberta.”
McCullough added 25 communities across Alberta were surveyed with the final list being narrowed down to 10.
“We looked mainly at the cost side of things and the market side of things,” said McCullough.
“With the costs we looked at office space, industrial land, and wages and taxes etcetera.”
He added staff at the magazine received various statistics about the regions from the community’s development officers; they surveyed the Chamber of Commerce in each municipality as well as individual business people, leasing agents for realty companies, among others.
The top 10 featured in this month’s Venture Alberta Magazine includes Fort Saskatchewan in the 10th spot, tied for seventh place was Leduc/Nisku, also known as Alberta’s International Region, Rockyview County and St. Albert.
Tied for fifth spot was Medicine Hat and Okotoks while Edmonton came in fourth.
In third place was Strathcona County and in second was Lethbridge with Red Deer coming in first.
“Red Deer was number one because the city balances the fast growing economy, it’s in an excellent location and offers moderate costs,” said McCullough.
Rick More, interim executive director for the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce, said the feature in Alberta Venture will be a useful tool.
“We can take this and use it as a backing to attract potential businesses to the area,” he said. “We think this area is a smart place to be for business.”
Jensen agreed.
“When businesses are looking at Red Deer as a location we can hold this recognition up as a positive,” she said.
Jensen added Red Deer has the complete package.
“I think if you look at the economic, social, cultural and environmental side, Red Deer comes out on top in all of those categories,” said Jensen. “You can wrap all that up in a box with a bow and present it as the whole package.”
Alberta Venture is a monthly glossy business magazine that goes out to the province’s business owners and managers and is also available for the general public.
It is based out of Edmonton and is available on newsstands.
| Author: | | Erin, Fawcett, Red Deer Express |
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