St. Albert businessowners are upbeat about the future, a city survey has found, with more than half expecting revenues to rise in the next 12 months.
The City of St. Albert published the results of its annual business retention and expansion survey on June 25. Run by Deloitte Canada from April 22 to May 18, 2025, this phone and email study sought to understand the plans of local businessowners and how they saw St. Albert as a place to do business. The survey had about 412 respondents and was considered accurate to within 4.8 per cent at a 95 per cent confidence level.
Despite ongoing uncertainties caused by the Canada/U.S. trade war, the survey found that St. Albert businessowners seemed optimistic about the future. About 71 per cent said they had not had any change in staff levels in the last 12 months and did not expect that to change in the next 12. Some 78 per cent said their revenues over the last 12 months had increased (42 per cent) or stayed the same (36), with 54 per cent saying they expected revenues to rise in the next 12 — the most since the city started this survey in 2020.
Good times ahead?
City of St. Albert economic development director Mike Erickson said this optimism could be the result of St. Albert’s generally stable economy, and its presence in Alberta, which tends to outperform the rest of Canada. Businessowners have told him that they were more concerned about operating costs and commercial space than tariffs.
In an email, Rebecca Krecsy-Chambers of Chambers Plumbing and Heating said she wasn’t surprised by these survey results.
“The community since COVID has rallied around local businesses,” she said, and residents are now committed to shopping local.
While she was initially concerned about how tariffs could affect her company, Krecsy-Chambers she’s managed to find tariff-free alternatives to most of their products.
“We’ve noticed an uptick in our trade for people wanting to enter it as well,” she said, with their company recently hiring a new worker due to high demand.
Sturgeon Autobody owner Larry Ketsa said the tariff war has had little effect on his business, in part because insurance companies usually foot the bills for their work. Rising vehicle prices caused by the tariffs have also pushed people to invest more into repairs to keep their cars running longer.
“Our problem is basically finding people,” he said, as there’s an ongoing shortage of skills mechanics in Alberta.
Room to improve
About 87 per cent of survey respondents said they would recommend St. Albert to another business looking to relocate or expand, with 91 per cent saying they were satisfied with it as a place to operate a business. The region’s high-speed internet and child-care were the top two reasons for this satisfaction. Marketing and social media support topped the list of supports businesses were most interested in having.
Krecsy-Chambers said the city was doing a good job of supporting local companies, but agreed that many could use help with social media.
“We feel the city understands that when they invest in local business, the economy benefits greatly.”
Erickson said the city recently hosted workshops on marketing and financial planning in response to requests from the business community. His office was now working with about 150 survey respondents to address issues highlighted by the survey (such as plans to expand, move, or close).
Erickson said the city planned to run this survey again next spring.
Survey results can be found at stalbert.ca/dev/business/stalbert/survey.
