In 1924, the city of Richmond was only 19 years old and had a population of around 16,000.
The downtown area was just starting to form. The dredging of the harbor was underway, though the heyday of the Richmond Shipyards was still two decades away. There were no freeways and no shopping centers. The Ford Motor assembly plant had not yet risen.
The Richmond Chamber of Commerce, however, was here.
If you go…
What: Richmond Chamber of Commerce 100th Anniversary Gala
When: Friday, Oct. 4, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Riggers Loft Wine Company, 1325 Canal Blvd.
Tickets: $100 per person
It was in that year of 1924 that the chamber was formed by founding members that included Standard Oil (now Chevron), Mechanics Bank and M.A. Hays Insurance, with the goal of helping the city’s businesses thrive.
The chamber is celebrating its 100 years with a gala anniversary dinner on Friday, Oct. 4, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Riggers Loft Wine Company, 1325 Canal Blvd. Tickets are an appropriate $100 per person.
“Over the past 100 years, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce has been a cornerstone of business growth, advocacy and community development,” the organization’s website states. “This gala will honor this remarkable legacy while looking ahead to the future of our business landscape.”
Indeed, much has changed in Richmond over the past century.
The shipyards produced 747 ships during World War II while employing 90,000 people, many of them women and Black migrants from the rural South.
Marina Bay developed into an important waterfront property. The Hilltop Mall shopping center opened in 1976. Interstate 580 leading to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was completed in 1978 and the Richmond Parkway opened in 1994.
The city’s population now tops 110,000.
But while Richmond’s population growth was mostly steady over the last 100 years, the same can’t be said of the city’s business sector.
The shipyards have not been in operation for decades. The behemoth Hilltop Mall sits vacant while online shopping booms. And chamber officials have bemoaned the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative impact on the city’s small businesses; the chamber’s membership has declined from nearly 300 before the pandemic to about 180 today.
James Lee, the chamber’s president and executive director, estimates there are about 2,000 businesses in Richmond. Many are small businesses, and a good portion of those operate out of private homes. Less than 1,000, according to Lee, occupy traditional brick-and-mortar locations.
Despite all of the changes and ups and downs, chamber officials say the goals of their non-profit organization haven’t changed.
“Our future always comes back to our core values,” said Lee, who owned the Aci café before having to close it during the pandemic.
The chamber’s mission is still to promote the business community, help it navigate the halls of city government, create a strong local economy and provide networking and other opportunities for business owners.
The chamber continues to offer staggered annual membership fees from $199 for businesses with fewer than 10 employees that includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the opportunity to host a mixer to $10,050 for those at the “president’s circle” level, which includes an array of online banner advertisements and gets the members’ business logo featured on the Chamber website and in its newsletter.
“We are a unified voice for the community,” said Rich Doellstedt, chair of the chamber’s board of directors executive committee and the co-owner of Richmond Wholesale Meats. “We help connect business with the rest of the city.”
The non-profit is currently focused on rebuilding its membership and adapting to the new world of social media and online commerce.
“We can reinvent things and have more of a presence,” said Doellstedt.
One new way they are doing that is by sponsoring the Best of Richmond contest, in which local residents vote for their favorite businesses in town.
In its inaugural year, the contest drew almost 20,000 votes and, last month, the chamber honored 160 local businesses.
“The contest highlighted why Richmond is a great place to live and a great place to work,” said Doellstedt.
He added that the chamber is trying to get more active online and help businesses hire quality people, in an era when many employees don’t stay with a company for more than five years.
Lee pointed out the chamber can also help businesses deal with regulations and other aspects of city government. He noted one recent example, in 2022, when the city approved a ban on plastic straws and the chamber helped negotiate a six-month delay to give local restaurants a chance to adapt.
“Local business owners don’t have time to do this,” Lee explained. “They’re too busy running their businesses.”
Nathaniel Bates, a former mayor and eight-term City Council member, described local businesses as “the lifeblood of the community” because they provide services for residents and bring in tax revenue to the city.
However, he said, online shopping and government regulations are making it more difficult to run a profitable small business in Richmond and elsewhere.
“It’s tougher and tougher for the business community to survive without support,” Bates said. “This is a real challenge for the Chamber of Commerce.”
Many local business owners welcome the chamber’s support.
One is John Ziesenhenne, the owner of M.A. Hays Insurance. The business has been in Richmond since 1912 and was a founding chamber member.
Ziesenhenne, who was raised in Richmond and sits on the chamber’s executive committee, credits the success of his business, which he’s owned since 1993, to customer loyalty and personal service. The company was one of the local businesses honored in the recent Best of Richmond contest.
He said the chamber plays a vital role and is an important asset to the city.
“The business community is the backbone of the Richmond community,” said Ziesenhenne. And the chamber, he added, “is the main advocate for all of the businesses.”
Park Florist owner Bob Perata also appreciates the chamber’s support. His business has operated in Richmond since 1911 and has been at its current location on Macdonald Avenue since 1962.
The shop provided free flowers for the launchings of all 747 ships from the shipyards in the 1940s and has supplied the flowers at many local high school graduations. Today, the shop keeps busy with individual sales and arrangements for local churches and special events.
Perata, whose shop was also honored in the Best of Richmond contest, said he likes being a part of the city’s “vital business community” and appreciates the assistance he and other businesses receive from the chamber.
For chamber officials, that’s what it’s all about.
“Even as the business community changes, our core values will never change,” said Lee.
