SmartBusiness Eagle County supports local business community    

Local businesses are the bedrock of community vitality. Within our mountain towns, businesses play a pivotal role in driving job creation, revenue generation, and community development. Strong communities simply cannot exist without strong businesses as the foundation.

In this context, business retention and expansion (BRE) programs emerge as essential mechanisms for nurturing and supporting the economic health of both the region and our communities.

Why focus efforts on business retention and expansion rather than recruiting new businesses? By retaining existing businesses and helping prevent closures or relocations, BRE helps maintain the diversity of goods and services available to residents and provides resources to businesses that are already established or are looking to grow. BRE initiatives help facilitate the growth of and support for our locally-owned enterprises. In essence, BRE programs contribute to the fabric of local vitality, enriching the experience of both residents and visitors.

Business retention and expansion programs such as the SmartBusiness Eagle County program are instrumental in supporting the growth and stability of local economies. By actively engaging with existing businesses, BRE programs seek to identify challenges, opportunities, and growth barriers faced by local businesses and to connect them to the resources that exist to navigate the challenges.

Every year, we interview Eagle Valley businesses ranging from Main Street to primary businesses, all of which include a portion of their customer base stemming from outside of Eagle County. These interviews help play a role in preserving the unique character and identity of local communities by identifying trends and needs to help stem the challenges that exist for businesses to grow and thrive in Eagle County. As a bonus, we can help identify key business challenges that might not show up in the traditional economic metrics and can connect businesses to regional and state resources they likely don’t know exist.

BRE programs empower businesses to thrive and expand through targeted assistance, such as access to financing, workforce development, community data, and Small Business Development Center tools. This, in turn, helps businesses and contributes to job retention, stimulates economic activity, and bolsters the tax base.

Key themes from our most recent interviews included the following:

1. Lack of a stable workforce remains the top challenge and concern for businesses. To no one’s surprise, the underlying issues continue to stem from the high cost of living and the absence of affordable, workforce housing.

2. Businesses are willing to change how they think about hiring and are embracing remote work

opportunities when possible due to the lack of a qualified workforce locally. Businesses are accepting that being perpetually understaffed is the norm and are adjusting client loads/hours accordingly. There is an increased focus on retaining skilled workers by introducing new programs and incentives while shifting to solely hiring for entry-level positions supported by training, and 75% of businesses indicated that their investment in skills and professional training is increasing.

3. Supply chain disruptions have lessened, although local infrastructure remains challenging (i.e. road conditions and closures on the passes and in Glenwood Canyon). This requires advanced inventory planning and warehouse space to keep supplies on hand in case of disruptions.

4. Water was a new area of concern when discussing community growth. The importance of transit and transportation was also mentioned by most businesses.

Our goal is to nurture and support existing businesses to enhance community resilience by fostering collaboration between industry and government. BRE initiatives play a vital role in supporting and shaping the future trajectory of our businesses, ensuring that our communities remain thriving hubs of opportunity, innovation, and belonging now and into the future.

Chris Romer is president & CEO of Vail Valley Partnership, the regional chamber of commerce. Learn more at VailValleyPartnership.com