Economic Insider — January 29, 2010

Director's Focus
Congratulations to French Creek Head Start

This week we congratulate Family & Community Christian Association (formerly known as the YWCA) – French Creek Head Start administrative offices on moving to its new location on South Main Street in Meadville. For the last seven years they have occupied a little more than 2,000 square feet at the Bainbridge Center at the Crawford Business Park.

This move, and the recent relocation of Vantage Health Networks to its new headquarters facility, also on South Main Street in Meadville, opens up about 12,000 square feet of contiguous office space in the Bainbridge Center for future tenants, and can accommodate a single or multiple occupants.

Of course, the Economic Progress Alliance will seek to utilize this space to again support the needs of area businesses in furtherance of the retention and creation of jobs in the region.

Until next time…

Mark Turner

Y-Express Locker Rooms Opened

The much anticipated locker rooms for the Y-Express at the Crawford Business Park are completed and have been opened for use! The Y-Express, which is a satellite location of the Meadville YMCA, opened a little more than a year ago and offers state of the art fitness equipment such as treadmills, ellipticals, stair climbers and recumbent bikes. This location, which operates Monday through Friday and is opened to the public and business park tenants with a membership, also offers towel service, a basketball court, Pilates Classes, Resistance Training and Tae Kwon Do. If you would like more information on the Y-Express go to: www.meadvilleymca.org and click on Y-Express.

Economic Trends

What do discount retailers; education, and green power have in common? Surprisingly enough, even in the questionable economic times that exist, these are some of the business trends that continue to thrive, according to entrepreneur.com.

With everyone watching their spending closely these days, discount retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Family Dollar are seeing increases, while higher end retail store sales are dropping. In 2009, Family Dollar had a record net income, showing an increase of 25 percent. Large numbers of people are going back to school in order to retrain for new jobs or to retain current jobs, which brings the total enrollment at colleges and universities to approximately 12 million. Enrollment is also on the rise at trade schools, online universities and junior colleges. Finally, with the number of government incentives and the large amount of money that the stimulus plan has poured into renewable energy, clean technology and clean energy are areas that are growing at astronomical rates. These are just a couple of the thriving examples that entrepreneur.com sited for 2010, to view the full listing, go to www.entrepreneur.com/hottrends/index.html.

Overseas Trade Representatives Coming to Meadville

On March 16, 2010, the Northwest Commission is offering area businesses the opportunity to meet with overseas trade representatives and to learn more about global expansion and available services. Fourteen trade representatives from the Arab Gulf, Australia & New Zealand, the Eastern Mediterranean region, France & Belgium, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and Vietnam will be available on March 16th for one-on-one meetings at the Country Club, 15955 State Highway 86, Meadville, PA 16335. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania contracts with foreign trade representatives to assist Pennsylvania companies with obtaining foreign market intelligence and identifying overseas agents and distributor candidates. For more information on this opportunity, or for registration instructions, contact Katarina Ishman at the Northwest Commission, (814)677-4800, ext. 117 or via email at katarinai@nwcommission.org.