Business Retention and Expansion Final Report - City of Brantford

42Nine businesses plan to relocate within the next three (3) years, and five (5) are exploring the possibility. Twelve (12)businesses plan to remain within the municipality and one (1) plans to relocate elsewhere in Ontario.Decisions to relocate include the following reasons:71% Other reasons (building sold, too big/old, safety and lack of businesses and parking)29% Inadequate facilities in terms of building space21% Expansion limitationsEach business cited either a head office decision, a change in the market, availability of appropriate labour, or that utilityinfrastructure is inadequate.Participants were asked what assistance, if any, could prevent the relocation and five respondents said, “other type ofassistance (available parking and more people are needed downtown),” four respondents said, “finding anappropriate site location,” two respondents said, “nothing, decision is made,” and one each said, “finding andsecuring adequate labour; infrastructure upgrades”, and “assistance in making business case remain”.Within the next 3 years, 65% do not plan on undertaking major renovations, and 35% plan to renovate.Businesses were then asked whether they were planning to invest in new equipment in their operations within the nextthree years and 96% said “yes”, while the other 4% said “no”.Of those businesses (27) planning on expanding, 24 answered the question regarding innovation being the reason forexpansion. Seventy-five percent (75%) said “yes’, while 25% said “no”.Twenty-seven businesses indicated that they have plans to expand their businesses within the next three years. Thoseexpansion plans will lead to the following (participants could select more than one answer):“Downtown is moving in the right direction.” - Downtown Brantford Business Owner