The Steinbach Chamber of Commerce says there are some encouraging signs in the local business community. Executive Director Linda Peters says, based on the number of new businesses joining the chamber, the local business community is growing.

"We have actually seen a significant uptake in new businesses opening just in the last little while. In 2015, we had 21 new businesses open. For the past few years, prior to that, we were in around the eight to ten new businesses and in 2015 we were 21 so that's really good news."

She notes there were also ten business closures last year compared to seven a year earlier. Peters says the new businesses cover quite a cross section including restaurants, a transfer company, a realtor and the new Maurices clothing store which opened Friday at Clearspring Centre. She says inquiries are also picking up from prospective business owners.

" I would say that we've had a few more requests in the past six months than we had for a while before that. We don't necessarily get approached all the time though because very often it's the commercial real estate agents or even the city office that get contacted. But just again, comparing what we can compared, the calls we've had in the last six months I'd say are slightly up."

Meanwhile, data from the City of Steinbach shows the number of businesses operating out of commercial premises has remained fairly constant over the last five years at about 425. This number does not include home-based businesses.

Number of business rolls (businesses which operate out of a commercial space) in the City of Steinbach for the noted years:

2016 - 425
2015 - 430
2014 - 426
2013 - 421
2012 - 428
2011 - 430