North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce to Cease Operations
An organization that has served local businesses for the past 40 years is calling it quits. The North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce announced this week that it is going to cease operations, due in large part to a cash flow issue.
Officials from the chamber say it was a difficult decision.
“We thought long and hard about what options were out there. Realized there weren’t really any good ones,” said James Snoxell, chair of the North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce. “The most responsible approach was to, with great regret, close the doors.”
The chamber provides resources to businesses located in Osseo, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park.
Snoxell says Hennepin County had cut off funding to the organization. On top of that, the Chamber hadn’t put on any large, revenue-generating events in quite some time.
“Sad to See It Go”
The Primrose School of Champlin Park has been a North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce member since 2007. Owner Joe Pikett says the Chamber helped connect him to the rest of the business community. He says hearing the news was tough.
“It was a good 10-year run for me and my business, and sad to see it go away,” Pikett said. “I think the community’s going to start to see some things disappear that they kinda got used to, especially around our business education partnership. A lot of events that the Chamber was well known for — State of the Cities, Star Student, things like that that — won’t be around anymore. I think people will realize that they really enjoyed those and they’re going to miss them.”
Wednesday’s Star Student Annual Awards Breakfast will be the final event for the North Hennepin Area Chamber of Commerce.
Other local chambers have reached out to North Hennepin Area Chamber members to help to fill the void. Those include the I-94 West Chamber of Commerce based in Rogers, and the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce based in Plymouth.
