The number of new businesses opening in St. Albert on an annual basis has been steadily rising, according to city data.
“The city currently has roughly 2,800 business licences, and the city has seen, over the last five years, favourable growth with net new businesses increasing at a pace of about five to 10 per cent year-over-year in that time,” Shawn McCauley, the city's manager of business retention and expansion said.
All businesses operating within St. Albert, including non-profits, are required to have business licences, and according to the city's records, 133 new business licences were given out in 2019; followed by 151 licences in 2020; 220 licences in 2021; 248 licences in 2022; and as of November the city had given out 242 business licences this year.
McCauley said the 2,800 figure doesn't account for what the city calls out-of-town business licences, which are for businesses based in other municipalities but operate in St. Albert from time to time, such as construction companies or developers.
McCauley said it was hard to say why there was a sharp jump in the number of new business licences being awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It's difficult to determine conclusively from the city's business licensing data,” McCauley said, adding, “the national trend showed an increase of new businesses during the early stages of COVID-19, which appears to have a correlation in the increase in layoffs during the same period.”
Indeed, according to Statistics Canada data, about 5,489 businesses opened in Alberta in March of 2020 — the following month saw 5,820 new businesses open, followed by another 6,943 in May, and roughly 8,500 opened in June.
New businesses during the first couple of months of the pandemic unsurprisingly didn't outpace the number of businesses that closed permanently or temporarily, StatsCan data shows. More than 13,300 Albertan businesses closed in April 2020, another 10,700 closed in May and 7,105 closed in June.
In 2021 business openings outpaced closures across the province for eight months of the year, with the most openings taking place in January and February.
Another factor that may have had a role in the number of new businesses in St. Albert since 2021 was that entrepreneurs throughout the province reported that they felt the province's business conditions were favourable, according to research by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Canada.
GEM Canada is a team of researchers from across the country who study and analyze entrepreneurship.
According to GEM Canada's 2022 report on the pandemic's impact on Alberta entrepreneurship in 2021, about 65 per cent of entrepreneurs with businesses older than three months but less than 3.5 years said that the pandemic had created new opportunities, whereas just 33 per cent business owners who have been open for more than 3.5 years agreed with that sentiment.
“Overall, 59 per cent of Alberta respondents engaged in total early-stage entrepreneurial activity agree that the pandemic has provided new opportunities in 2021,” the report reads. “Alberta had the highest percentage of entrepreneurs in 2021 who expected to start a business in the next 3 years.”
“This suggests increasing confidence amongst Albertans to start a business in the next three years despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic.”
As 2024 quickly approaches, McCauley said that while the pandemic may have played a role in increasing the number of new businesses, the city isn't expecting a drop in growth now that all governmental health measures, and relief programs, have been lifted for more than a year.
“The city is optimistic that the number of licences issued will continue its positive trend in the future and that current businesses will continue to prosper,” he said.
The St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce did not respond to the Gazette's interview request.
