BUSINESS ON THE SUNSHINE COAST -
LANGDALE TO EARL'S COVE

Click here for Powell River Economy & Business Information

Our region is primarily divided into three main business regions:

Gibsons, from Port Mellon to Roberts Creek
Sechelt, from Roberts Creek to Halfmoon Bay
and Pender Harbour, from Halfmoon Bay to Earl's Cove

COMMUNITY FUTURES SUNSHINE COAST

Suite #301
5500 Wharf Avenue
PO Box 128 Sechelt, BC
V0N 3A0
(above Wheatberries Bakery)
www.communityfutures.org

CFSC offers financing, training, and advisory services for small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Sunshine Coast community. Community Futures organizations have been dedicated to promoting rural economic development for over 20 years.

Our Community Futures office is a non-profit organization guided by a volunteer Board of Directors and staffed with business professionals. We work with community partners to help foster entrepreneurship and economic development in our region.

We provide a variety of different support services to people wanting to start, expand, franchise or sell a business in the community.

In addition we offer facilities rentals to local groups and businesses, as well as state-of-the-art video conferencing technology.

We also work in partnership with other business lenders, educational institutions, not-for-profits and community governments to grow and diversify our local economy. We are completely focused on the needs of our clients, our local businesses, and our area’s economy.

For more detailed information about all we do, please see our services page.

Community Futures is funded in western Canada by Western Economic Diversification Canada.

  • Community Economic Development
  • Non-Traditional Lending
  • Counselling and Advisory Services
  • Board Room Rental
  • Video Conferencing Facility
  • Small Business BC Seminars


CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

These three business zones are served by Community Futures Sunshine Coast, and their local Chambers of Commerce:

Sechelt & District Chamber of Commerce
102 5700 Cowrie
Sechelt, BC
V0N 3A0
(604) 885-0662
www.secheltchamber.bc.ca

Gibsons & District Chamber of Commerce
Sunnycrest Mall
Unit 21
900 Gibsons Way
PO Box 1190
Gibsons BC
C0N 1V0
www.gibsonschamber.com/page.asp?p=57

Pender Harbour Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 265
Madeira Park BC
V0N 2H0
1-604-883-2561
Toll-Free: 1-877-873-6337
www.penderharbour.ca

These sites offer business, economy and some tourism information for their appropriate service region.

In addition, Chambers of Commerce serve their membership off-coast by:

  • participating in province-wide information and marketing campaigns through the larger BC Chambers of Commerce organization promoting their member businesses through Tourism BC publications distributed province-wide, Canada-wide and internationally through a variety of distribution channels
  • The lower Gibsons business area is also served by the Gibsons Landing Merchants Association. The Merchants Association markets and promotes the lower Gibsons area through brochures, publications and sponsorship and fundraising events throughout the year.
  • The downtown core of Sechelt is served by the Sechelt Downtown Business Association (SDBA), whose members consist of all the business and property owners within the downtown commercial core. The SDBA office can be reached at (604) 885-9611, or fax (604) 885-2733.


DOWNTOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS

Sechelt Downtown Business Association
5710 Teredo St
Sechelt, BC
V0N 3A0
604-885-9611
www.secheltdowntown.com/

The SDBA is responsible for the Business Improvement Area (BIA) in Sechelt. This is a non-profit society; its function is to:

  • improve, promote and market the downtown core
  • generate and raise funds to cover costs incurred for advertising and promotion for administrative services of the society
  • develop and encourage communication, understanding and common interests among the downtown Sechelt businesses
  • actively encourage interaction with all societies, organizations and governing bodies for the common good of the District of Sechelt


Additionally, the SDBA co-ordinates various special events throughout the year, including:

  • murals & street art
  • Christmas special events, Shop & Win
  • Secretary's Day
  • Canada Day Celebrations
  • Coasters Car Club Show & Shine
  • The BIA Business Beat is the SDBA newsletter, published quarterly.


Through management by volunteer directors and a paid co-ordinator, the SDBA has created a concept plan for future growth, planning and development. The SDBA, District of Sechelt, Urban Systems Consulting and members of the downtown village community recently completed a report detailing goals and implementation for the development of the downtown core. The vision agreed upon by the community will go before the District Council this year in report form as an amendment to the Official Community Plan. You can request more information about the Sechelt BIA by calling (604) 885-9611.

Gibsons is also currently in the process of forming their own Business Improvement Area.

 

The Sunshine Coast Economy

The Sunshine Coast economy, long dependent on resource extraction (forestry, mining, fishing) has undergone significant changes in the last 15 years. Below is an overview of the sectors and their employment figures, from the 2014 Vital Signs Report recently presented to the community.

 :

Economic Sectors

 

  • Retail

    Retail has been the number one employer of Sunshine Coast residents for the past seven years. Wages are in the low range, and turnover especially among younger adults makes this a weak sector in terms of wages and economic value.

    There are a number of chain stores on the Sunshine Coast, usually anchor tenants in mall complexes; the lower Sunshine Coast, due to spread out population centres across 86km has some duplication of outlets, but retail leaders such as London Drugs, Canadian Tire, Extra Foods and Rona do draw significant out-of-cachement populations. Fast food franchises are limited.

    Many businesses are entrepreneur owned and run, offering a variety of goods across a wide range of categories, with the most popular being clothing/shoes/accessories, leisure goods, cooking/kitchen, and boutiques with hand made artisanal products. Food-related specialty stores are also popular - the Sunshine Coast has a strong 'foodie' culture, with a broad interest in organic and sustainable food sources.

  • Construction

    The construction industry on the Sunshine Coast is picking up after a couple of slow years tied to the US and world economy and the high Canadian dollar that put the brakes on a peak cycle that saw annual building starts averaging 100,000/year between 2006-2010.

    In subsequent years building starts dipped to as low as 66,000 (2013) but by 2014 the SCRD was at +24%. This recovering sector is seeing gains in the residential and industrial sectors, with the commercial sector slowing considerably from a high in 2009. This sector produces mainly liveable wage work, though delays in trades due to fluctating availability of skilled workers can negatively impact incomes, leading to peaks and valleys in earnings.

    The ebbs and flows of the construction industry is mirrored in the Real Estate professionals category, which also accounts for a solid percentage of workers on the Coast.

  • Manufacturing

    The Sunshine Coast is ideal for light manufacturing and has seen an increase in this area in the past five years. From the days of sawmills and raw log export highs, the Coast is undergoing fundamental change that should allow us to attract or support businesses in this sector to move or start here.

    High-speed Internet through Telus and EastLink, business park expansion in both Gibsons (Hillside) and Sechelt (East Porpoise Bay and Field Road in Wilson Creek) and innovative businesses leading in emerging sectors like zero-waste recycling, specialty food and retail items, and medical marijuana are creating new employment opportunities, many of which are in stable-wage categories.

  • Health Care

    The Sunshine Coast has a population +10 years over the median age in the Province of BC, making the average age on the Coast 51. We have a much larger than average percentage of senior citizens, but a lower-than-average availability of intermediary and long-term care facilities.

    The recently expanded St. Mary's/Shishalh Hospital, with a cat scanner and surgical rooms, but there are a limited number of beds due to the commitment in creating single-occupancy rooms for better infection control outcomes. Many specialists must be seen in Vancouver or must be booked well in advance if they do rounds through smaller rural communities in the province.

    Employment in this sector is expected to grow significantly as more coasters age into advanced health care needs and require special housing. Home care services, hospital professionals, specialists, and physicians are all a growing sector need.

  • Everything Else

    • Administration/Management: with 5 local governments on the lower Sunshine Coast, a good percentage of workers are in the admin/management field. Competition for positions in this sector is fierce; the coast has a very highly-educated population, with many people relocating from cities and bringing significant experience. The joke goes that you have to wait for someone to die to get on with local government, the liquor board, school district, the mill, and BC Ferries... and it's not that far off the mark. Workers bringing unique or specialized skills - leading edge digital environment knowledge, sustainability or environmental sciences backgrounds will have less competition than general administrative workers.
    • Arts & Cultural: The Sunshine Coast has a very high percentage relative to size of population of people who make all or part of their living working in arts and/or culture. The Coast Cultural Alliance has been a huge driver in this regard; the organization produces a monthly printed calendar of events, keeps up a detailed Arts & Culture calendar online, hosts a directory of artists and cultural workers, produces the Purple Banner Studio Tour guide and puts on a hugely successful Art Crawl every October that includes both the lower Sunshine Coast and the Powell River and Lund regions. The Festival of the Written Arts is one of Canada's longest-running writers festivals featuring only Canadian authors, and several publishing houses call the coast home.
    • Tourism: the Sunshine Coast has seen a huge increase in the number of visitors and the diversity of accommodation and activity options develop since the late 90s. With the advent of the Internet, and the success of Bigpacific.com's debut online in 1997 the concept of marketing together to leverage reach and reduce marketing expenses has transformed the Sunshine Coast's tourism sector from a handful of resorts in Pender Harbour and a few hardy activity-based businesses into an employment sector and revenue generator that makes a significant contribution to the local economy. The peak season runs close to sell-out, and the shoulder season (May/June/September/October) is fairly active, but this region does not receive the attention that Whistler and the Okanagan do. Our regional spread and number of governments has led to a poorly-funded patchwork of marketing that relies almost entirely on the work of volunteers on the Lower Coast. Powell River's tourism board, funded at 140K/year by local government, is in a much better position.