The City of Thomasville’s GIS and Main Street Departments have collaborated with the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce to promote local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agencies have together created a Geographic Information System (GIS) map to pull together information related to Thomasville’s small business community. In launching the map, the partnership intends to assist local businesses while providing valuable information to residents.
Duane Treadon, City of Thomasville Director of GIS said that using technology to display this information was a simple way to support local business and make the information easy to navigate. “By working with Main Street and the Chamber, we have been able to bring all of the Chamber’s local business survey data together to create an interactive web map for citizens,” said Treadon. “This gives citizens a convenient tool to see which businesses are open and the services they are providing like curbside pickup, online ordering and hours of operation,” said Treadon. The map is user friendly and can be viewed on smart phones, tablets and computers.”
“Now more than ever, we must unite as one community,” said Andrea Collins, Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. “We walk a fine line of balancing the health and well-being of our community while maintaining economic vitality. Our businesses need us and the only way to help them is through collaboration,” said Collins. “We need to support local business while abiding by the CDC recommendations for social distancing using innovation. It’s what makes Thomasville and Thomas County unique,” she said.
April Norton, City of Thomasville Main Street and Business Development Director agrees. “Now more than ever, it’s important for us to support the small businesses that build our community,” said Norton. “Partnerships like that of the City of Thomasville GIS Department and the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce allow us to be more efficient in our efforts to keep our businesses standing strong,” she added. “The downtown merchants are going to great efforts to emphasize health and safety through the operations of their businesses, following the CDC guidelines that have been put in place,” she said. “It is important that our residents and business owners work together in order to follow our local Administrative Order, Executive Orders by Governor Kemp and Centers of Disease Control recommendations,” said Norton. “The Thomasville community always comes together in support of each other, and these circumstances have proven no different.”
Norton and Collins agree that local businesses have been innovative in finding ways to continue serving their customers. In fact, many local businesses are providing curbside pickup, online sales, shipping and delivery methods, virtual tours of their shops, subscription boxes, material kits and strong social media marketing. “Creative tools, like the interactive map, allow our community to easily access up-to-date retail, restaurant and other business type information in an effort to continue to support our Thomasville businesses,” said Norton.
The new interactive business map can be viewed on the COVID-19 Information and Resources page on Thomasville.org or on the Chamber of Commerce’s THOCO United page on their website.For the most up-to-date information related to the City of Thomasville’s COVID-19 response and community resources, visit Thomasville.org. For more information on Thomasville’s Main Street program, please contact the City of Thomasville’s Main Street office at 229-227-7020.