Ashe County Chamber of Commerce Relocating to Jefferson Avenue

By Ron Fitzwater

The Ashe County Chamber of Commerce is moving to a new location in downtown West Jefferson. Currently

housed in office space directly across from First Citizens Bank, the Chamber will move into the space previously occupied by Thistlewood Boutique on the corner of North Jefferson Avenue and Main Street in downtown West Jefferson.

At the April 28 ACCC Board meeting, it was decided to move ahead with negotiations to find a new space and subsequently an agreement was reached by the executive members of the board with Ellen Phipps to lease the new space.

"We were able to get a really good lease agreement for a fairly extended length of time where we will be able to offer better service to our members and visitors to Ashe County as well," said Chamber Executive Director Cabot Hamilton.

"The location itself puts us back on Jefferson Avenue where we were several years prior to being here. That was an advantageous place to be because we received a lot more walk-in traffic than we do in our current location.

We get some here, but we do average close to 20 percent less foot traffic than we did before and we anticipate getting that back after the move."

Hamilton said that the chamber plans to move as soon as possible, but some remodeling will need to be conducted in order to adequately operate.

"We need to build some office space for the staff and put in public restroom facilities since we will also be a visitors' center."

The new space will also provide a place for the chamber to showcase area businesses through brochure racks, magazines and "even a place to distribute the Ashe Mountain Times. More than half of the total space will be dedicated to merchandising our member businesses," Hamilton said.Hamilton said that he whole-heartedly endorses the soon to be former chamber location for anyone interested in opening a downtown business location and called his current landlords Howard Turnmire and Russell Vannoy great people to work with who always went above and beyond to accommodate their needs.

"There have never been any issues at the office and every time any maintenance requests were made they have been very quick to respond. This would be a great place for an attorney's or accountant's office who only needs a couple of private offices, and it comes with excellent parking for prospective clients."

Currently, signs in the windows at the new downtown location announce the move to passers by and Hamilton wants everyone to know that the move will be completed as quickly as they can get it done but that the staff will continue to provide the excellent service they are known for.

For more information on the ACCC or area member businesses call (336) 846-9556, toll free (888) 343-2743 or click to www.ashechamber.com.