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Business & Tech

Five Minutes: Chamber of Commerce's Steven Rose

Patch talks with the Culver City business group leader about the issues facing his members.

As the Culver City Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 90th Anniversary today, its president and CEO, Steven J. Rose talked with Patch about his longtime service—next March he will have been with the Chamber for 25 years—and what's coming up for the group and business in general in Culver City.

Rose, who was raised mostly in Culver City, worked in his family's upholstery business until he found himself in the emergency room with what he thought was a heart attack. He's been with the Chamber ever since. When he's not working, he likes to spend time in his rose garden and reading.

Culver City Patch: How have things changed for business in Culver City in your almost 25 years as Chamber president?

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Steven Rose: That really varies. When I came in, one of the attractions that brought members in was that we offered free faxing services. Now, I don’t even know if people know what a fax machine is anymore.

But the biggest change to business is the Internet. Whether consumers get on the Internet and buy something in China or someone in India is buying something in Culver City, that our local market is now the entire world. I think that what people have to understand is that competing with the Internet is price, but it’s also creating a sense of place for people. And place for people in Culver City can be a dining experience downtown or it can be a shopping and dining experience at Westfield Culver City. But both spaces draw people. And that’s really an important thing. 

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Patch: Do you think it’s important for Culver City businesses to cultivate a "shop local" mentality among local consumers?

Rose: Yes, and that there are less and less people who really get it. The business community that wants local shoppers brings a local flavor to their business. A consumer could buy hair products on the Internet because they know exactly what they’re getting. A consumer cannot go on the Internet and learn how to style hair or color hair appropriately. That’s where you need a local business person. So that’s why you see along the boulevards and streets in Culver City more and more service-oriented businesses.

Patch: And what is the next big challenge for the Chamber of Commerce for the next 90 years?

Rose: Keeping me alive (laughter). Assisting our members through the myriad of government regulations that are there for the sake of regulation. I’ll put a little political shot there. And teaching them [the members] how to market in a multifaceted world.

Fortunately or unfortunately, very few people advertise in a newspaper. They’re advertising more and more online. That people are using online-type stuff, they advertise in sports arenas, in movie theaters. The diversity of advertising has just exploded, which is competition to a local paper. It’s obvious stuff that most people just don’t think about. 

Patch: What’s the next big project for the Chamber?

Rose: Leadership Culver City. We’re teaming with LMU [Loyola Marymount University], and it’s an attempt to reach out to the community to allow people to take an eight-month course, one day a month, to learn how government works. It seems to the Chamber that people get involved in government and only look at one small part of the pie. And when you cut a piece out of the pie, it’s not a whole. Loyola is going to head it for us. We’re going to bring in local government speakers, local businesses. 

But the end result is not only an education on the operation of the area, but an attempt to form lifetime friendships among your classmates.

Patch: Why is it so important to form those lifetime friendships?

Rose: People need to make friends with people from different walks of life and different businesses. If you take a very small area in the Chamber, it’s what unites the general manager of Westfield Culver City with the president of Hillside Cemetery and the owner of or with a lawyer in downtown Culver City. But they could all be friends and share each one’s issues.

Now, let’s spread it out and include them, include a schoolteacher, a professor or a local housewife. And the most difficult thing people have is putting their hands out and saying "hi." The Internet has robbed people of personal connections and Leadership will help bring that back.

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