The Carroll Chamber of Commerce and Carroll Area Development Corporation are continuing to support area businesses throughout the pandemic. According to Executive Director, Shannon Landauer, one of the key activities for the Chamber right now is working to ensure that retail opportunities remain viable for consumers throughout the region. A big question on many people’s mind is what will happen once the JC Penney store closes and vacates their property on the corner of Adams and 5th Streets sometime in the early fall. Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio
Other promotional efforts to support Chamber businesses, such as gift card buys and Chamber Bucks bonuses have been a huge success in creating some cash flow for those impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. Like the businesses and industries they support, the Chamber and CADC have been impacted as well. Landauer says one of their annual programs that was cut short for the last session, the Carroll County Leadership Institute, will unfortunately not be brought back this year.
Based on feedback from attendees, one of the strongest aspects of the program is the ability to tour and receive valuable insights from area businesses. The loss of that, and the difficulty with finding space to physically distance 25 people in one room for five hours at a time, were the major driving factors behind the decision to not start up a session this September. However, new ideas may come from this break.
Landauer says although changes from the pandemic may arise, some forms of educational dialog are almost always better in face-to-face scenarios.
She says their main goal is to give a base understanding of what Carroll and Carroll County have to offer, and that is a challenge with a virtual platform.