Getting Back to Basics
business, chamber, glasgow-barren county, glasgow-barren county chamber, glasgow-barren county industrial development economic authority,
A renewed focus on services for small businesses is one of many ways the Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce is riding out the nation’s economic slowdown.
The chamber hasn’t really seen any drastic changes in the local market, says Ernie Myers, executive vice president. But the chamber wants to be prepared if the national situation makes it to the regional level.
“We are beginning to feel a little bit of what’s going on nationally and globally, so we feel that our biggest feature now more than ever is promoting and helping the local economy,” Myers says. “And we’re doing that through different small-business programs.”
A popular series of small-business roundtables is slated to continue, as are seminars that address different topics of interest. Offering training classes in areas such as customer service also is being discussed, which would give the chamber more contact with companies’ employees as well as managers.
“We are an advocate for local business, but we also are a commerce center for the community,” Myers says. “It’s why we were created in the first place, and for that reason, we’re going back to the basics a little bit.”
With around 500 members, the chamber has plenty of talent to draw from. Myers says the organization plans to put all that business knowledge to work.
“We are looking to continue and expand our small-business roundtables, as well as do more seminars, so we can support all sectors of our local economy,” he says. “We house and help support the tourism commission, and we also work closely with the Glasgow-Barren County Industrial Development Economic Authority. We have good relationships with Glasgow Renaissance Main Street and the Community Foundation, and we’re now looking to work with Sustainable Glasgow – a new concept that will promote manufacturing, growing and buying locally.”
The chamber plans to highlight Sustainable Glasgow by continuing its own highly successful shop-local program.
“We sell what we call ‘chamber gift certificates’ at no cost to the purchaser or the retailer, and they’re good at local merchants,” Myers says. “We figure we are injecting around $250,000 a year back into the local economy.”
And that, he says, is where the chamber, its partnerships and its programs can make a real difference.
“We have our programs and our events, our golf tournaments and breakfasts, but supporting the local economy is something we do well,” he says, “and it’s something that will continue to help us all out.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by J. Kyle Keener
