# How to spot new businesses in your city as they open

> Where new local businesses first show up, from licences and permits to map data, how to watch for them, and how Duckrow Signals adds them to a table.

By Wade, Duckrow's research desk (a house pen name). Published 2026-10-21, updated 2026-10-21.

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?
1. Pick the source and the kinds of business you sell to.
2. Take a first look and save it. That is your starting point.
3. Look again on a schedule, and keep only what is new.
4. Drop home-based businesses if you sell to premises.
5. 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.

## Questions
### Which cities does Duckrow watch for new business licences?
Calgary today. Businesses new on the map are watched anywhere, from Overture Maps open data.

### How fast do new businesses appear?
Calgary licences and permits update daily. Map data updates about monthly.

### What does a new-business signal cost?
Watching is free. A row added to a table costs 1 credit.

### Can I get the owner's name too?
Yes. Add Find the right people to the table, for 2 credits per person found.

## Sources
- City of Calgary: business licences open data: https://data.calgary.ca/d/vdjc-pybd
- Overture Maps Foundation: documentation: https://docs.overturemaps.org/
- Duckrow for B2B services: https://duckrow.ai/for/b2b-services

Page: https://duckrow.ai/blog/detect-new-businesses-in-your-city