Renton chamber, city to kick off business “survive, thrive” workshops Wednesday morning

By Dean Radford • February 2, 2009 11:50 am

The Renton Chamber of Commerce and the City of Renton are planning a series of workshops during the next several months designed to help Renton’s businesses survive and even thrive in these recessionary times.

An information session on Wednesday (Feb. 4) is for businesses owners to express their needs and from there the chamber will develop workshops to meet those needs, according to Bill Taylor, chamber president.

The information session is 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the chamber office, 300 Rainier Ave. N. The chamber number is 425-226-4560. The session is for downtown businesses, and other businesses, too; chamber members and non-members can attend.

Kevin Hoult, adviser with the Small Business Development Center, will review resources available to Renton businesses and discuss ways of coping with, and taking advantage of trends and opportunities in 2009, according to Taylor.

“What we are going to do is let them express their needs,” said Taylor. “Then we will schedule workshops against those specific needs.”

Some likely targets including marketing and financial needs, he said.

Taylor points out that even during an economic downturn, there are opportunities; the workshops will show businesses how to take advantage of those opportunities.

The initial effort is on downtown businesses, but the intent is to serve all of Renton’s business community, according to Taylor.

On the positive side, Taylor said that Renton isn’t home to or dependent on some of the major retailers and companies that have announced major layoffs, including Circuit City.

Boeing earlier announced that The Boeing Co.’s Commercial Division, based in Renton, has announced that it plans to cut its workforce by nearly 7 percent or about 4,500 positions. However, Boeing’s best-selling jetliner, the 737, is built in Renton and Boeing plans to protect production jobs.

“On balance, we are probably in better shape that most of the cities around us,” he said.

Just recently, Boeing announced that job cuts could reach about 10,000 company-wide.

Still, the massive layoffs elsewhere “magnifies that atmosphere of negativety that causes people to react and pull back,” Taylor said.