Business & Shopping

Fort St. James has a thriving and active business community, The town offers all the conveniences of the commercial world and supports a thriving small business community, providing everything from consulting services to gift baskets and homeopathy.

Shopping opportunities in town include:

There are two banks (Royal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) and the Nechako Valley Credit Union.

The Caledonia Courier keeps residents up to date with its weekly publication. Daily papers such as The Vancouver Sun, The Province The National Post and the Prince George Citizen are regularly brought into town, as are some smaller, specialized papers.

Many residents make the trip once a month to Prince George to load up on items not available in the Fort. While you can get just about anything you need in town, the choices are often wider in "the big city". (The standing joke in town is that you ever want to call a town meeting, make it Saturday afternoon in the Prince George Costco parking lot!)

With a population of over 70,000 Prince George offers all of the conveniences and opportunities of a mid-sized southern Canadian city. As the regional capital Prince George is the major commercial and industrial centre for the central interior of the province, and the transportation gateway to the central and northern parts of the province. The city is the base for a significant government and public service sector servicing a wider region, including the Fort St. James area. The Prince George Regional Hospital is a 311-bed hospital, with immediate plans for construction of a new wing. The province recently opened a $21 million dollar law court building in the downtown core, and the city recently completed a multi-million dollar multiple use centre that has hosted everything from concerts by B.B. King and Great Big Sea, to hockey games and trade shows. A convention centre, art gallery, and two aquatic centres round out the recreational facilities.

Post-secondary education services include the College of New Caledonia and the recently opened University of Northern British Columbia. UNBC offers undergraduate and graduate programmes, and in the short three years since opening its doors it has become the institution with the fastest growing enrollment in the province. Both institutions offer forestry and natural resources programmes. UNBC is also co-managing a 13,032 hectare research forest in the Fort St. James Forest District, located between Pinchi and Tezzerron lakes with the Tlazt'en First Nation.

Spend an afternoon shopping in Prince George and you can run the gamut of what is available in any other urban Canadian centre. A recently-opened multi-million dollar mall complex offers shoppers everything from health foods and books to bagels and outdoor equipment. Department stores include both Sears and the Bay; several large grocery stores (Costco, Great Canadian Superstore), and numerous national chain stores. Several shopping malls are scattered throughout the city. Restaurants include national names such as Earl’s and B.C. standards such as The Keg, and offer a wide range of foods including Chinese, Japanese and Italian. The city is home to Pacific Breweries, a made-in-the-north success story that recently became the first brewery in Canada to brew a certified organic beer!

Entertainment options in Prince George are as varied as your interests. There are two multiplex cinemas and a drive-in to tempt your movie tastes, and the city is home to a professional theatre company that has just opened a brand new performance playhouse. The Prince George Symphony holds regular performances, striving to produce concerts with a unique northern theme. Local clubs regularly bring in top name Canadian and international entertainers, and the university is a regular stop on the lecture and special guest circuit.

It’s a unique way to live - in the lap of northern elegance, next door to the conveniences of the "big city". Many people make an event of a weekend in Prince, combining shopping and business needs with a special night out!

Vanderhoof also has its own unique shops and stores. While there is no resident veterinarian in the Fort there are two on staff at the Vanderhoof Veterinary clinic, offering full services for companion and larger animals. The main street of the town looks alot like a small-town Ontario main street, with small locally-owned shops lining the sides. Shopping in Vanderhoof can include a trip through the antique store, the fabric and kitchen shops, picking up a few things at the health food store, or checking out the several second-hand shops in the area. Many people belong to the Vanderhoof Co-op Association and do their shopping at the co-op store, which can fulfil food, dry goods and hardware needs.

But that’s not to say that the Fort can’t fulfill your commercial cravings. The Fort St. James Chamber of Commerce maintains an active presence in Fort St. James, meeting regularly to encourage business development. There is also an active women’s business network in the Fort.