Children friendly business is good business
By Contributor
In order to support local businesses, creative ideas can be key to encouraging families to shop at home.
Boundary Success By 6 is pleased to announce the beginnings of a Family Friendly Business (FFB) Initiative intended to make local businesses more attractive to local shoppers with young families along with travelers.
“The idea is to encourage local business people to become more conscious about how they engage with young families,” explained Ellen Strelaeff, Boundary early years coordinator. “Ideas include everything from saying hello to kids when they enter your business to offering them stickers or a place to sit and colour while their parents shop. We also encourage change tables in bathrooms. This also ties to the recent Breastfeeding Friendly Initiative which encourages business owners to make it simple for nursing moms to feel comfortable if and when they have to feed their baby while they are in their business.”
The Boundary Country Regional Chamber of Commerce and the City of Grand Forks Council have both agreed to partner with the initiative. Over the months ahead, Boundary Success By 6 will approach other key stakeholders including elected officials across the rest of the Boundary and other community groups.
“Any way that we can remove barriers to easy, accessible, comfortable, welcoming shopping environments will benefit our local business people and their employees,” continued Angela Soukoreff, Grand Forks Credit Union. “More shoppers means more dollars for the local economy. Family friendly is good business.”
Future ideas include implementing a “People’s Choice Award” for Family Friendly Businesses and adding markers to an online business locator map that would indicate businesses that are family friendly according to a checklist.
For more information or if you are interested in participating, contact Ellen Strelaeff at ellen.strelaeff@bfiss.org or 250-442-2267 ext 161. Lead partners of the initiative include Garry Peters, Ministry for Children & Families, Christine Thompson, Phoenix Foundation, and Angela Soukoreff, Grand Forks Credit Union.
