BRAZOS COUNTY, TX — TheBryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce took to the streets of Brazos County yesterday, with over two hundred volunteers paying visits to area businesses. Chamber Day is a designated event each spring, during which, volunteers visit hundreds of businesses across the community, gathering data on local industries.
"One of the things we do for the count,y is that we have a survey," said Glenn Brewer, president, and CEO of the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce. "And we’ve been doing this for about 19 years. We ask questions of each business, [such as]; how has the business been this past year? What do they think going forward, [concerning] what the business climate looks like?”
Typically Chamber Day includes several hundred volunteers, with in-person visits to over a thousand locations. This year, social distancing needs resulted in a smaller volunteer pool, and just over 700 businesses were reached. As the Chamber of Commerce was unable to conduct Chamber Day last March, Glenn Brewer said, this survey, will provide the Chamber with important data about how companies have fared through the pandemic.
"The pandemic has hit everyone differently," Brewer said. "We’ve been to a business that had a record year because it’s something that just has been thriving during the pandemic with people staying home. Anybody related to the hospitality business has been devastated... when you go from one business to the other, you can get a completely different story.”
At the Mercedes-Benz dealership of College Station, general manager Dan Tow had the chance to speak with several chamber members and volunteers.
"I like participating in this stuff because I want to be part of the overall community," Tow said. "And what I’ll reach back out to Glenn Brewer [about] is: after your Chamber Day, what do you think the state of our business and local commerce is?”
Brewer and his team asked Tow questions concerning how the dealership has been faring: Have you had any issues hiring new employees? Did you receive financial assistance during the pandemic?
The Chamber holds multiple goals for this survey. Brewer said that he hopes the data collected can be of use to governments such as the county commissioner’s court, and to the business community in general. The Chamber of Commerce plans to compile the results of their survey into a report, which will be released to the public in the near future.
Any business owner who didn’t get a visit from the Chamber still has a chance to answer survey questions on the Chamber website, right here!