Businesses in Arden Arcade will be surveyed Friday, Sept. 24, during the annual Arden Arcade Business Walk to check on local economic conditions.

The Business Walks are part of a regional “best practices” strategy for business retention and expansion. Since 2007, this international award-winning strategy—called Metro Pulse—has logged face-to-face contacts of nearly 5,000 businesses. In 2009, the Metro Chamber assisted its partners on five Business Walks, and currently the 2010 schedule will double that figure.

More than 40 participants are scheduled to visit more than 100 businesses along nine commercial corridors in the Arden Arcade district. Joining together to conduct the walk are the Arden Arcade Business Council, Fulton Avenue Association, Sacramento Metro Chamber and the county of Sacramento.

Participants go into businesses of all kinds—retail, office, industrial, commercial—and ask three questions: how’s business, what do you like about doing business here and what needs to be improved. What they hear immediately gets to economic development staff that can help with issues that arise.

The Business Walk begins with a 7:30 a.m. orientation session and breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express/Cal Expo, 2224 Auburn Blvd, Sacramento. The walk commences at 9 a.m. and concludes with a wrap-up session and lunch back at the hotel.

Business people are encouraged to participate to gain relationships and contacts in the area. For event day information, contact Matt Yancey, Metro Chamber director of economic development, at 916-317-3748.
 

Hal Silliman is director of communications for the Sacramento Metro Chamber.