The Olds & District Chamber of Commerce has moved from its old location in the Everything Olds building at 51st Street and 51st Avenue to the former Boys & Girls Club of Olds & Area location at 5021 51st St.
The move took place over the Sept. 28 weekend. The chamber had been in the Everything Olds building since April 2017.
The chamber is occupying the main floor of that building. As of last week, it was uncertain what would happen with the second floor.
The main floor encompasses about 2,000 square feet. Chamber president Mark Johnson says it provides far more space than they had in their Everything Olds quarters, where they had a tiny office for executive director Caroline Bodmer, access to a small boardroom, and shared a reception area.
"We're looking at some ideas about how we can better serve our members," Johnson says.
He says in addition to providing more room for Bodmer, ideas for the building include providing a co-working space where startup entrepreneurs can come and have a spot to work without having to incur the expense of a big office.
Another part toward the back may become a combination boardroom and area where small workshops to benefit chamber members could be held.
Johnson says it could even serve as an indoor farmers market in the winter.
"I really do like the idea of a co-work space that people can rent for so much an hour, so much a day or so much a month type of thing," he says.
Johnson is aware that the economy in Olds is pretty bad right now but he says you have to be optimistic and look past that.
"There's always opportunity, but we have to keep looking for it, right," he says. "You can read the papers and say, 'oh well, the world's going to end tomorrow, so we might as well just stick our heads in the sand and wait.' Or we can go and do something."
Johnson notes the chamber was able to get a great deal on furnishings, thanks to local partners.
"Olds Soft Gels were doing a garage sale to get rid of a bunch of stuff when they did their retrofit," he says. "Thanks to our members at Home Hardware and some of the Olds Grizzlys, we were able to get a whole bunch of stuff to go in our building."
Johnson says the chamber ought to hold a grand opening. He agrees that if they do that, Small Business Week would seem to be the obvious time to do so. This year, Small Business Week runs Oct. 20-26.
The chamber is holding its annual Business Awards Gala just ahead of that week, on Oct. 17, 5:30 p.m. at the Olds College Alumni Centre.
