Weekly Regional Business Intelligence | |
“Pride, commitment and teamwork are words they use to get you to work for free.” — Anonymous | |
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James Schmalz steps down from CEO role at Digital Extremes ― the city’s second high-profile tech resignation this month
James Schmalz, founder and CEO of video game developer Digital Extremes, is stepping down. Schmalz founded the company in 1993, and first rocketed to success with the game Epic Pinball. Since then, the company created the hugely popular game Warframe, has done contract development work for AAA games like BioShock 2, plus a host of other projects over the years. “I feel immensely privileged to have been able to play my part in shaping our industry; building our stellar team has been a fulfilling life’s work,” Schmalz said in a statement. Schmalz will stay on as a board member at Digital Extremes, and the CEO role has been filled by Steve Sinclair, who has been serving as the company’s chief creative officer.
The upshot: It’s another high-profile resignation by a London tech CEO ― David Ciccarelli of Voices.com stepped down a couple weeks ago ― but there’s nothing really to suggest that Schmalz is leaving under dire circumstances (though, through a series of acquisitions in 2014, 2016 and 2020, Digital Extremes is now owned by Chinese megagcorp Tencent, so there’s likely a backstory of some sort). Nonetheless, the company has been humming along on development of Soulframe, a sister game to its popular Warframe title, and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. “I’d like to join the rest of the DE team and our community in thanking James for all he’s done,” commented Sinclair. “James saying ‘yes’ to Warframe in 2012 and boldly committing to making it work changed the trajectory of our company. James believed― and continues to believe ― in our team when no one else would and established one of the most community-oriented and player-focused studios in the world.”
Read more: Game Developer | Business Wire
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Joe Duby closes Dundas Street Gnosh; doesn’t mince words about operating downtown
Gnosh Dining + Cocktails, a popular restaurant on Dundas Street near Bud Gardens, will close this weekend, its owner announced this week. “It is with a heavy heart that I’m announcing the closing of the downtown location on October 28,” wrote Gnosh owner Joe Duby on socials. “The restaurant landscape in the core area has changed dramatically over the past few years, and I’ve decided to put my efforts into other projects at West 5.” (Late last year, Duby opened a second Gnosh in the Helio Building at Sifton’s West 5 community in west London.) Duby had been involved with the restaurant on Dundas Street for more than 11 years, both as Gnosh and under its former Blu Duby moniker. In the announcement, he said that much of the core team will move to its new location at West 5, where he also has plans for an additional more casual concept called Bili Rubin’s Pub.
The upshot: In an email to London Inc., Duby explained that the decision came amidst growing frustration among downtown businesses which have had their hands full with crime, homelessness, construction and Covid. “I think that the atmosphere of downtown changed during the construction process of redoing Dundas Place, and then subsequently with Covid,” Duby said. Like many other businesses, crime and vandalism has been an ongoing problem for Gnosh, and Duby shared his concerns regarding what he perceives to be a dearth of direction to improve things. “There is a distinct lack of coordination from different organizations, and no cohesive plan for downtown as a whole.” He added that he had “no regrets” about “a wonderful 12 years downtown,” and said that while the restaurant was still turning a profit, the headaches of operating downtown led him to conclude that “the juice ain’t worth the squeeze.”
Read more: Facebook
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Adonis Market to open London store
Quebec-based Mediterranean and Middle Eastern grocery chain Marché Adonis (Adonis Market) is set to begin construction on a London location, expected to open in the summer of 2025. “Adonis offers a unique and authentic experience to customers looking for international products,” the company’s VP Eric Provost told The London Free Press, “and we are thrilled to be joining the London community.” The new supermarket will be opening at the Westwood Power Centre on Wonderland Road South, where construction is set to begin next year.
The upshot: There’s been a lot more demand for international grocery stores in Canada lately ― partly due to a growingly diverse cultural population, partly because of a growing foodie culture and probably partly out of some fatigue and frustration with the big brands. T&T Supermarket, an Asian grocer, is opening a London store next summer as well. “We’ve seen this across the country, new concepts that are either homegrown or come in from other parts of the world,” Retail Insider’s Craig Patterson told the CBC recently. Additionally, the Competition Bureau has been making noise about wanting more competition in the grocery space lately ― but since Adonis is majority owned by Metro Inc., and T&T is owned by Loblaws Companies Ltd., there’s still some work to do on that front.
Read more: London Free Press
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We’re back! London billboard campaign returns to poach Toronto talent
London is trying to lure the Torontonians again. New tongue-in-cheek billboards have been put up around Toronto by the London Economic Development Corp. recently, teasing them with tales of short commutes and better housing affordability. “The campaign seems to have struck a chord with people who might be open to looking at alternative locations and a diverse range of opportunities,” LEDC president Kapil Lakhotia told the Toronto Star. The LEDC last did this campaign in 2021 at the height of remote work; Lakhotia said the focus recently has been on attracting workers in healthcare and life sciences. Since they first launched it in 2021, Lakhotia estimates the agency has heard from about 5,000 people – good news, considering the region’s mushrooming employment needs over the next few years.
The upshot: It seems interprovincial and intermunicipal recruitment campaigns have become a mainstay of post-2020 life in Canada, as everyone jostles over the labour force and tries to capitalize on an affordability advantage. Alberta’s campaign from 2022 ― “Alberta is Calling” ― was one of the more memorable examples, and the campaign claims it helped lure over 33,000 people in just one quarter last year. So, there’s gains to be made. Now, if we can just figure out how to house everyone…
Read more: Toronto Star | CBC News
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City to get first new strip club in more than a decade
For the first time in over a decade, London is getting a new strip club. Called Bad Bunny’s, the new nightclub is taking over the former Beef Baron location at 624 York Street, which closed in 2020 due to Covid restrictions and never really reopened, save for a brief period where it operated as… an antique market (there were also several suspicious fires in 2021 that, one supposes, ultimately sealed the club’s fate.) Anyhoo, the involvement of Amer Sal Mohammed, a Toronto artist who has worked with big names in hip-hop including Drake and The Weeknd, is generating some buzz for the new club. Who else is behind the project is, to say the least, unclear: city officials haven’t released the name of the license holder, and the only director listed for the company is one Jonathan Catsaris, according to the London Free Press.
The upshot: Strip clubs have slowly faded out of the city over the past couple decades, such that there are now only two remaining ― Bad Bunny’s and Solid Gold on Dundas Street (though there are a total of three existing licences for strip clubs in the city). The Beef Baron had far and away the most colourful history of the bunch, with its ties to the Hells Angels, brothers Rob and Vince Barletta and its role in the biker wars of the 1990s and early 2000s. Hey, it’s not going to get any Heritage Minutes anytime soon, but you can’t deny it’s part of London’s history. We will have to wait and see whether Bad Bunny’s (which seems to be aiming for a more of a couple’s friendly strip-club, dance-club vibe) turns out to be a hit ― or it too will be become part of a fading strip-club era.
Read more: London Free Press
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Ikea announces “plan-and-order point” for London
Ikea Canada announced that it is opening a new plan-and-order point in the city ― Ikea-speak for locations where people can work with Ikea staff to design and plan out orders, usually for whole rooms like kitchens or bedrooms, and then have the product delivered (products are not available for immediate takeaway at plan-and-order points). The unit is set to go into the Wonderland Power Centre in the south end. It will be the second such location in London, with the other ― technically an Ikea “design studio” but a similar concept ― already operating at CF Masonville Place (it’s unclear if the Masonville store will remain: when Ikea opened it in late-2021 the stated that it was a “short-term concept that would be open for 12 to 18 months”). The scaled down version of the Ikea experience has proven to work well for customers, said Ikea spokesperson Inna Romagnoli. “Since 2022, we've opened three plan-and-order points in the Montreal and Ontario markets and the response we've received from customers has been very positive.”
The upshot: Ikea has floated a lot of different names for its scaled-down concepts, but whether you call it a design studio, planning studio or a plan-and-order point, the model seems to be working well enough in markets like Southwestern Ontario to forgo opening full showroom stores (a full-service Ikea was originally announced for London back in 2017 but was ultimately scrapped in early 2020). In the U.S., Ikea has been experimenting with offering more design services as well, including offering to design a room for $100 earlier this year. The plan-and-order points aren’t quite the same level of service, but they’re in the same ballpark. According to the company, the Wonderland Power Centre location is set to open in spring 2024. No Swedish meatballs, though.
Read more: Newswire | Fast Company
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Dispatch: October 27, 2023
A summary of recent business appointments and announcements, plus event listings for the upcoming week.
View listings here
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