February 15, 2015

Hello West Bank business friends,

It’s hard to believe that it’s already February and we’re well into the new year! Thank you for everything you did to support the WBBA and our West Bank neighborhood last year. The West Bank wouldn’t be the awesome destination district it is without our fantastic restaurants and venues, and the people that run them – fantastic people like you!

While 2014 was a great year with a lot of things to celebrate, we couldn’t be more excited …

At our October member meeting, we reviewed and approved our long term Strategic and Business plans, built with feedback from over 100 businesses and stakeholders. You can find these documents below:

WBBA Business Plan (pdf)

2014_LongTermStrategicPlan (pdf)

West Bank friends,

The West Bank is fantastic – but you know this already, right? It’s full of character, creativity, and AMAZING businesses. Our locally owned Minnesota businesses outnumber chains 27 to 1! That’s an amazing ratio of independent awesomeness we’d love to maintain. The WBBA is working hard to help us keep the rich tapestry of unique businesses we have in our district strong.

But there’s another area where we really need to improve, and I’m asking for your help.

Many of us walk a lot in the neighborhood. …

Introducing Business Services!

After lots of feedback and many requests from our small business community, the West Bank Business Association is excited to announce that we will begin adding consulting to our business services! We’re starting small to address immediate needs in marketing, web development and meeting facilitation.

Services will be offered at competitive rates, with discounts extended to WBBA members. You can find out more about services by visiting the WBBA website here: http://www.wbba.thewestbank.org/?page_id=1174

Recruitment, Retention & Reward: Volunteer Management Basics.

One of the number one issues to come out of …

Hello West Bank friends,

A reminder that the WBBA’s annual meeting and planning session is this THURSDAY September 3, 3pm-5pm at Augsburg’s Oren Gateway. We’ll begin the meeting promptly at 3pm, and an agenda is below.

Looking forward to seeing most of you there!

-Jamie

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We encourage you to do a little googling or refer to your memory about other districts and neighborhood you’ve been impressed by and have enjoyed. What did you notice about them?

Some helpful resources to look at in preparation for Thursday’s conversation.
Other area business nodes / …

Hello awesome West Bank friends,

A few updates, announcements and reminders for you below.

Business Priorities Survey – deadline extended – please respond ASAP

Please take 5-10 minutes to let us know what your priorities are for the upcoming year, and what you hope the WBBA’s priorities will be. This will both help save time during our planning session as well as make sure many businesses voices are heard as we plan our course for the next few years.

You and/or others in your business are welcome to participate. …

Hello West Bank business friends!Sending out another reminder that Cedar Ave construction will be starting SOON! (Mid to late August.) Please see the notice from the city below. The WBBA is doing outreach from business to business, but it takes a village – Please spread the word about this construction to your neighbors as well. While the updates will be a great asset to the neighborhood, we’ll need to get through this construction period and are hoping to do this with as little disruption to business as possible. The City will …