Women entrepreneurs driving business in downtown Port Perry, Ontario [Video]

Piano Cafe, downtown Port Perry

With more than half of the businesses in Port Perry’s historic downtown owned by women, it’s safe to safe to say woman have a significant share of the small business power base in the little tourist town on the shores of Lake Scugog.

Considering it’s only been sixty years since women were allowed to open a bank account in Canada without their husband’s signature – a time when just a third of working-age women were actually employed – we have come a long way as a society since then.

Recent political events that have some concerned we may be slipping back notwithstanding, the future of small business in small towns like Port Perry world is bright, thanks to local women entrepreneurs who run accounting firms, law offices, art galleries, clothing stores, bakeries, jewelry shops and even a historic café and inn that’s been in operation for nearly 130 years.

Sharon Runnals, who co-owns Branching Out Floristsand …