Is it just my imagination, or is there more branding underway in Squamish these days than on a bustling Alberta cattle ranch? In the past, Tourism Squamish, the Chamber of Commerce, the BIA and local realtors have done most of the heavy lifting. More recently, the district has hired a consulting company and enlisted a committee of local residents to take branding to the next level.
These high-profile Squamish branding activities are not so much about getting residents to buy into a place whose allure is already fixed in their minds. Their primary focus is convincing the thousands of travellers, who at the moment only have a transitory acquaintance with this marketplace, to do more shopping locally, or to set up shop here.
In other words, the exercise is all about creating a convincing narrative to attract new business and investment. Promoting our moniker as the outdoor rec capital of the nation, accentuating our growing knowledge of industry and continuing to highlight the Squamish Valley Music Festival and Loggers Sports are all part of the equation.
We also need to draw attention to a retail/service sector that has become a major player in the past 15 years. A proliferation of business activity along Highway 99, the encouraging retail environment downtown, and the major shopping centres, including the Chieftain Mall and Squamish Station, underscore that assertion.
In some ways, retail is the commercial version of Rodney Dangerfield. With sprawling acres of asphalt parking lots and limited aesthetic appeal, it "just don't get no respect." The sector has garnered a host of detractors who yearn for the good old days when commerce and industry was situated at the bottom end of town near the shores of Howe Sound, or more remotely at Woodfibre, while the rest of the municipality existed in a state of verdant bliss.
Critics decry the mostly low-paying jobs and limited benefits with which the sector is associated. Resurrecting the fat paycheques of yore has been bandied about by successive municipal councils for more than a decade now, with no tangible results in sight. What vendors and service providers contribute is their fair share of municipal taxes as well as employment and training opportunities for a growing number of residents who would otherwise be jobless, or compelled to commute to similar jobs elsewhere.
The exponential growth of local retail is not about to be reversed. Occupying a prominent location near a bustling roadway travelled by some of the province's highest income earners has obvious marketing benefits. But the sector, as a whole, needs to create a further strategic advantage by leveraging quality, selection, exceptional service and competitive pricing. And it has to ensure it is given full consideration in any major Squamish branding initiative.
