High Street, a slow summer, the proposed water levy, and legalization. There's was a lot of interesting things to come out of 2018 for local businesses.

Rob Clark, CEO of the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce looked back on the previous year and said there's been a lot of great stuff to look back on, one of which happened most recently.

"Well I think the first one to come to mind is the latest one," Clark said. "With the SaskPower deal that's just going to be a major boost for the community over the next three or four years moving forward even after that. Just some of the other highlights are, you know a lot of businesses still maintain their creativity, being innovative and whatever to survive."

In 2019, Clark said he will be keeping a close eye on the recently proposed water infrastructure levy, which could leave some business with a $24,000 bill if approved. He'll try to make sure local businesses won't have to foot the bill.

In regards to the fiasco that was High Street, Clark is disappointed that businesses ended up closing but is pleased how some businesses got creative during a tough time. He was also happy to get everyone together for an official High Street reopening party in the summer.

Speaking to local business owners, he said 2018 ended on a high note for some of them. After a slow year, he said the third quarter really picked up for local businesses. Some even believe it's thanks to the new "Shop in a store with a door" messages getting spread around.

"It's a good sign, I had a few businesses over the last two or three weeks, I mean it's not a big marking point by any means, but I had some people saying the "Shop Local", the "Shop Moose Jaw" campaigns they feel that it's been paying off and people are starting to look at shopping local a lot better now."

In total, 191 new businesses opened in 2018, while 159 businesses closed. That's a positive of 32 openings.