Record Number Of Businesses Open In Halifax
HALIFAX—There are more than 10,000 businesses operating in Halifax. That’s significantly more than there were before the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, it’s more than there has ever been in the city.
Statistics Canada revealed new data today tracking how many businesses have opened and closed across the country.
The seasonally adjusted data show more businesses open in Halifax than any time since the organization started tracking business openings and closures.
In January, the most recent month that data is available, StatsCan says there were 10,099 businesses open in the city.
That’s up significantly from May of 2020, when the number reached the lowest StatsCan had ever recorded: 8,616. That 8,616 number from May 2020 was a staggering 15 percent lower than January 2022.
Fifteen percent might not seem like a lot but, considering how steady the number of businesses in the city had risen over the past half-decade, it was significant.
Statistics Canada started tracking business openings and closures in January 2015. From then until the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the overall number of businesses in Halifax rose slowly and steadily.
Each month, somewhere between 300-400 businesses opened and another 300-400 closed. A slight few more would open than close, leading to a net gain of about 90 businesses a year.
In February of 2020, there were 9,722 businesses open in the city. That month, 347 businesses opened and 346 closed.
In March, those trends went out the window when the pandemic hit Canada in full force. The number of businesses in the city dropped by about 120, as 449 closed and 328 opened.
In April, a shocking 947 businesses closed in Halifax. Another 838 closed in May. That significantly outweighed the approximately 320 that opened in each of those months, leading to the record low number of businesses open in the city in May.
But even as the pandemic raged in Nova Scotia, the business community was quick to recover. By June, the number of businesses open in the city was already going back up.
StatsCan’s June numbers aren’t as accurate as other months but the agency says 640 businesses opened in June 2020, while 406 closed. The number has been trending up ever since.
In New Brunswick, the number of businesses open in urban centres followed a similar pattern to Halifax.
In February 2020 Moncton was near an all-time high, with 3,882 businesses open. But by May 2020 the number of businesses in the city had shrunk to 3,551, almost 10 percent lower than before the pandemic.
In April, 417 businesses in Moncton closed and 117 opened. But, like Halifax, by June the numbers were trending up. As of January 2022, there were 3,979 businesses open in Moncton.
A similar story played out in Saint John, although the number of businesses there hasn’t rebounded quite as fast. In January 2022 there were 2,898 businesses open in Saint John, the exact same number as in February 2020.
Statistics Canada does not publish data specific to Fredericton.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].