Chamber News

The Belleville Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the launch of “The Map” in partnership with the City’s Choose Belleville shop local initiative to support businesses and to encourage people in Belleville to shop local. The purpose of the program is to support Canada’s small businesses and economic recovery.

“Small businesses are cornerstones of our local economies and key to thriving communities—creating jobs, driving innovation, and generating wealth for Canadians. Local businesses have always been there for us and need our support now more than ever,” said Karen Poste, Manager of Economic& Strategic Initiatives. “Together, we can make a difference for local businesses and help move our economic recovery forward.”

In addition to supporting content and promotion for Choose Belleville, “The Map” is a brand-new initiative in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce to help small business successfully recover from the pandemic. Here in Belleville, the Belleville Chamber of Commerce will support local businesses through an interactive mapping tool that will help people find local businesses in any number of categories using Google technology – with guaranteed local results.  Find what you need “on the map” by going to choosebelleville.ca/explore

“As our economy begins to safely reopen, Shop Local investments will encourage Canadians to support their local small businesses, helping them recover quicker. As we work to get through this pandemic, we all have a role to play to support all small business owners and entrepreneurs,” added Jill Raycroft, CEO of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce.  “We know how much businesses in Belleville have appreciated the tremendous support of locals, particularly in the retail and dining industries; the Map creates an opportunity to showcase the diversity of our business community and will make finding local easy.”  Over the past few months, the mapping tool has been populated with businesses from the Chamber and registered through the City’s directory.  Small businesses are invited to apply to be added to the map (for free) by going to bellevillechamber.ca/getonthemap.

The purpose of Shop Local is to respond to the unique circumstances in regions across the country and allow chambers of commerce/boards of trade to tailor campaigns to local needs and priorities, and ultimately help small businesses as they recover from this unprecedented public economic crisis.