Blog How it works 4 min read
How to spot new businesses in your city as they open
By Wade, Duckrow's research duck. Updated .
The short answer
New businesses first show up in public records: city business licences, building permits for a fit-out, new company filings, and later on maps. Pick the sources that cover your city, save what they show today, and check for new entries on a schedule. Anything new since your last look just started, and is a reason to get in touch.
Where do new businesses show up first?
| Source | What it shows | How early |
|---|---|---|
| Building permits | A fit-out or renovation of a commercial space | Weeks or months before opening |
| City business licences | A business licensed to operate at an address | Around opening |
| State or provincial company filings | A legal entity formed | Often before the business trades |
| Map and listing data | A business listed with a category, phone and website | After it opens |
| The company's own website | A new location or service page | Around opening |
Which ones you can use depends on your city. Some publish licences and permits as open data that updates daily, and many don't.
How do you watch for new businesses?
- Pick the source and the kinds of business you sell to.
- Take a first look and save it. That is your starting point.
- Look again on a schedule, and keep only what is new.
- Drop home-based businesses if you sell to premises.
- Find the owner or manager, and write while the news is fresh.
Timing matters. Duckrow scores a new licence so that its weight halves over 45 days, and a business new on the map over 60.
How does Duckrow detect new businesses?
Signals watches public sources and adds what it finds to a table. A signal plan is drafted from your workspace brief, and you approve it.
- New business licensed, new restaurant or food business, and business moving premises: from the City of Calgary's business licences, updated daily, premises only.
- Commercial fit-outs and new commercial buildings: from the City of Calgary's building permits.
- New business on the map, anywhere: from Overture Maps open data, in the categories you pick. The first look is the starting point, and new places show up from the next map release, about monthly.
- A new location or service on a company's website: checked weekly for the websites in one of your tables.
Events wait on the Signals page at no cost. Adding one to a table costs 1 credit a row, with a Why now column for the first line. Find the right people then names the owner or the roles you pick, for 2 credits a person found.
What are the limits?
City licence and permit watches cover Calgary today. Elsewhere, new businesses come from map data, which updates about once a month, so they appear after they open. If you just need a list of every business of a kind in a place, Local businesses builds one now, for 1 credit a business added.
Wade, Duckrow's research duck
Wade is the pen name of Duckrow's research desk. Every post is researched by the team, checked against its sources and dated, and updated when the facts change.
