
The Lockport Chamber of Commerce invited members of the community to check out its new location during an open house Thursday, Sept. 28.
The move to 222 E. 9th St.—the Lockport Central Square building—is meant to help the nonprofit organization in better serving the community.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Lisa Kairis, executive director of Lockport Chamber of Commerce. “We work a lot with the City of Lockport. We collaborate for a lot of events. A lot of the things we do is with the City of Lockport, so it makes being in the building with the City of Lockport a little bit easier and creates relationships, synergies and continues the relationships we’ve established throughout the years. It’s nice that way.”
On Aug. 10, the Lockport Chamber of Commerce moved to it new location from its previous home at 921 S. State St.
The effort to relocate the chamber to the new building was not met without delays. At one point, it was determined they would find a new home in February. When the relocation didn’t occur, the move was intended to take place in March. By June, relocation was scheduled to take shape but it never materialized.
Kairis said it’s been smooth sailing ever since.
“We’re still supporting local business in Lockport,” said Ronald Lif, president of Lockport Chamber of Commerce. “That’s our mission, and that’s still what we’re going to be working with, [it’s] just a different place we’re based out [of].”
With the Lockport chamber’s move, a new website was launched for the community to put to use, and the organization is working with a new management system called Chamber Master to help synchronize their work.
“We’ve had multiple compliments on the website,” Kairis said. “Everybody who we’ve talked to about it have been like, ‘It’s so much more easier to navigate. It looks much better. It’s more user-friendly.’ It’s all that, so we’re excited about it.”
Since relocating, the chamber has noted an increase in memberships and interest.
“We’ve had about six members join recently,” Kairis said. “We are seeing a definite increase in interest. I don’t know if that’s translated to increase in membership, but there’s definitely a spike in interest.”
The Lockport chamber has a number of programs that it runs each year that draw in interest from the public, and they include the State of the City address and the fall gala. New programs to be launched include Second Saturdays, which is meant to head up the proposed State Street reconstruction, and Downtown Lockport Live, a gathering of community members and business owners that aims to help businesses thrive when State Street reconstruction begins.
For more information about the Lockport chamber, visit www.lockportchamber.com