New connections, new outlets

Word about the recent success of the Loxton Chamber of Commerce has now spread so far that residents of other nearby towns are asking to join.

That put the Chamber’s Business and Events Manager Sonya Altschwager, in a bit of a quandary, until they used an $88,000 FRRR grant to design an affiliate package for businesses outside of town so they can use the business hub when they’re passing through.

“I know this sounds bizarre, but we often get calls from people in Berri or Glossop saying, can we join the Loxton Chamber of Commerce? That doesn’t make sense,” Sonya said.

“And they say `but we love what you do, you guys are so proactive over there’. So, now that affiliate package is going to give them an opportunity to tap into our network without being members but work together.”

As Sonya describes it, such feedback proves the effectiveness of their model of encouraging local businesses with practical supports to make them more robust for when drought inevitably comes.

“At the moment we’re not officially in drought, even though we haven’t had rain for a long time and you can really feel that impact through this community,” she said.

“It’s not like we’re a big employer where lots of people work, but just through the wife not buying an extra dress, or getting another massage, or guys not buying a pair of shoes, or the kids not doing music lessons because things are tight on the land, that really does flow on and you can just feel it.

“We are the last Chamber of Commerce left in the Riverland, after there’d been three or four other Chambers start up and fall over, try and get into the swing of things. But we are still standing and we’re still super strong.”

It’s gone from strength to strength in supporting local businesses to thrive, including creating The Collective Loxton to give retail space to micro businesses and creatives selling locally made handmade items. What was once an empty former fire station and a bank is now attracting tourists and visitors to town.

Sonya said they’ve found that often these micro-businesses are an important support to local producers when cash flow is challenging, so it’s vital they are supported too.

“A lot of the artisans are wives of primary producers or partners who have got real jobs in the real world, but were amazing creatives selling things at markets, but that’s really labour intensive,” she said.

“So, to give them an opportunity to sell and get a second income or regular income without that labour, it was a no brainer for us.

“The building was just sitting empty for a couple of years before we decided we’d like to lease it. By putting The Collective in the main street, it’s created more of a buzz because we don’t like empty shops.”

During its first year, The Collective supported 43 local artisans, and the chamber provided training and skills development to more than 40 local businesses. It’s continuing to adapt to change, experimenting with different trading hours by opening The Collective on weekends and hosting private evening shopping events.

Sonya is proud that the Chamber provides a united voice for local businesses to pull together through tough times of drought, to be better able to adapt to conditions, so Loxton can be a dynamic regional town in all weather conditions into the future.

“We’ll hopefully benefit for many years to come because, as a result of that membership report, we’re now doing a review of our whole membership model this year to change things up so that we can be more sustainable in the future,” she said.

“We often get people calling us from all over saying `what is it that you do in Loxton that we’ve heard about? Why are you so successful?’”

“We’re always helping other people try to start up Chambers of Commerce in regional areas and we can give some advice, so we really thought, well we’ve got to make sure that our own backyard is sorted if we’re going to be this shining beacon for Chambers.”