TRENTON – Senate President Steve Sweeney, a possible gubernatorial candidate, is launching a series of meetings with small businesspeople.

The first stop on his “Small Business Listening Tour” will be at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at KMB Design Group in Wall.

Then at 1:30 p.m., he will be at Kelsey & Kim’s Southern Café in Atlantic City.

“New Jersey’s economy has been stuck, with unemployment remaining nearly unchanged over the last few years,” Sweeney said in a release announcing the tour.

“We have worked on various bills in the Legislature, but we can always do more. This tour is about hearing the concerns of small business owners and finding out what they need to succeed and grow in New Jersey.  It’s not about pushing an agenda, or touting what we have done.  It’s about hearing what they need.”

Sweeney said the tour is a way to promote and highlight the "Jersey Shore Is Open for Business" campaign to help alert residents to stores and businesses that are open in the areas hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.

The project is being done in conjunction with the New Jersey Restaurant and New Jersey Retail Merchants Associations, as well as the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau.