Chamber, DTP Launch www.ShopCentralNS.ca with Partners

TRURO – Shopping online from stores in Truro-Colchester is getting a lot easier.

The Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Truro Partnership have combined with the provincial government and the Sobey School of Business to launch a new web site allowing local retailers to take advantage of the growth in online shopping.

The new website is www.ShopCentralNS.ca

A test-launch of the site is now underway and will continue until later this year, when more new businesses will be added.

“This is phase one, but it’s a very important phase for us,” says Truro & Colchester Chamber of Commerce President Stephanie Jones.  “The Chamber and the Downtown Truro Partnership really want to thank the retailers who’ve stepped forward for the test period.  We also acknowledge the help and funding for the project provided by our community and provincial partners.”

Those partners include the Nova Scotia government, Northern Opportunities for Business and Saint Mary’s University along with the Sobey School of Business.

“This proves that working together makes us stronger,” says Downtown Truro Partnership Vice President and retail owner Karen Baillie of Elegant Steps on Inglis Place.  “Selling online links all of us into the global marketplace.  People can now shop on this site from across Atlantic Canada and around the world.”  (www.shopcentralns.ca)

I-T Advisor Mike Ross, who works with the Community Access Program will help us monitor the site and any issues that might occur over the test period, which ends in December.

Phase One’s design and technical work is supplied by Greg Beaver, a Truro native who has formed a company with his Halifax partners known as GB Techsulting, with help from the Sobey School of Business.   The Chamber and DTP intend to make the site available to every business in Truro-Colchester once the test period ends.