However, I am working with the chamber of commerce in hopes of connecting with some local merchants interested in either moving their business or expanding.  

You can get a lot of great free info from brokers,  loopnet, local city websites, chambers of commerce etc. 

@Meghan Custer neither will likely give you anonymity, because the info is public in most states through the chamber of commerce.

One of our more recent clients did a LOT of due diligence on us before purchasing a property, and that included all of the following: Speaking to 3 of our other clientsCalling the local police departmentCalling the local news stationResearching the local school district and chamber of commerceSpeaking at length to our Client Specialist (I think it was probably 6 hours on the phone total).Talking to some of our other business contactsAsking about us on BiggerPocketsI always encourage everyone to dig deep.

I walked into our local chamber of commerce last March (I walk 2 miles 5 days a week. 

@Linda Chambers Welcome and good luck!!!

@Melba Chambers I don't think that would be possible.

(We have to be colleagues for me to be able to send a file.)When you start delving into individual markets, be sure to google "[market name] chamber of commerce."

I've been involved with the SBDC and Denver Chamber.

This is a post brought to you by the Arizona chamber of commerce.