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The "Guide to Doing Business in Hampden County" is an annual feature of BusinessWest intended to serve as a reference for readers thinking of expanding or relocating within the county, as well as for those looking to expand or move into it. This year the section features interviews with presidents of the county's chambers of commerce--Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield and Westfield, followed by listings of economic development organizations, agencies and officials. Chamber presidents generally agreed that things are still tough economically, but that the region has moved beyond the painful recessionary years of "bumping along the bottom." The movement of the economy is definitely upward, although the economy will never look the same. There will continue to be casualties along with the successes, but why don't you hear it from the chamber presidents themselves?
CHICOPEE: WORKING HARDER
"While much of the rest of the U.S. is talking about coming out of the recession, we still haven't felt that locally," says Debra Boronski, president of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce. "Chicopee business people have said that while improvements have been seen in the past year, they have been very mild improvements."
Businesses are also working harder "for a whole lot less," she reports. Boronski cites the example of one business owner who had been seeing customers increasing at a rate of 15% to 20% annually before the downturn in the economy hit the region. After several slow years, last year he saw a 5% increase. "But he told me he never worked so hard for that before," says Boronski. She sees this trend of small improvements and hard work continuing.
"The effort to increase or improve business is tenfold what it has been in the past," she says. Her experience at the chamber has been much the same. "We're working harder to maintain growth. It's a sign of the times. People are skittish about spending money and are being very careful about it. There's a lot of uncertainty out there."
The Chicopee Chamber saw a 12 increase in new sales in its last fiscal year. But it also lost 25 members. Nine went out of business, one of which was MultiBank, which was absorbed into Bank of Boston. Kraft Food Services moved most of its operation...