*By Carlo Versano*
Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce and point-of-sale software company that built a small empire helping small businesses go online, is now expanding in downtown Los Angeles with its first brick-and-mortar space.
The space is less "store" and more "community space for entrepreneurs," said Shopify ($SHOP) product boss Satish Kanwar.
"Our goal is to make entrepreneurship more accessible," he said Thursday in an interview on Cheddar.
The space will be open seven days a week and feature workshops and classes with Shopify experts; host lessons on merchandising, marketing, and photography; and facilitate one-on-one appointments that merchants can book, à la Apple's ($AAPL) Genius Bar.
Downtown L.A. was the obvious location for planting the first brick-and-mortar flag in the ground, Kanwar said ー given how many Shopify merchants are from the Los Angeles area (10,000, by his count, and over 600,000 worldwide).
But the concept can be tailored to any area with a healthy population of small business and start-ups.
"Entrepreneurship can be difficult and hard at times," Kanwar said.
Shopify wants to provide a service for existing customers and attract a pool of new ones ー some of whom may not even know the service exists but may see the space and think about that business they've always wanted to start.
Of course, it's also indicative of a move into physical retail "experiences" for brands that were once synonymous with e-commerce operations. Sure enough, Kanwar used the "experience" buzzword to describe how he sees people interacting with the Shopify space. By having a retail footprint that isn't purely transactional, people can "learn about what you stand for," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/a-look-at-the-future-of-retail-with-shopifys-satish-kanwar).
Maks Chmerkovskiy and wife Peta Murgatroyd, of "Dancing With the Stars" fame, are branching out into skincare.
Donald Trump began testifying Monday morning in his civil fraud trial, producing the spectacle of a former president and the leading Republican presidential candidate defending himself against allegations that he dramatically inflated his net worth.
The trial between Google and the maker of the game Fortnite will begin Monday as a San Francisco jury will hear Epic Games' case claiming the Google Play Store takes an unfair commission on purchases made through apps.
One of the most self-made and success stories in the country, Emma Grede, has worked along with the Kardashian Jenner family on many of their best-known brands. Grede, CEO and co-founder of Good American, gave back to the next generation of business leaders as a featured speaker at the Chase for Business Make Your Move summit last week. She spoke with Cheddar News about her career, her company's fashion brand, working with the famous Kardashian-Jennifer family and balancing her own family life.
Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by businessman Warren Buffett, reported its operating earnings in its most recent quarter jumped more than 40% from a year ago but posted its first net quarterly loss in a year.
Elon Musk's company XaI has announced a new chatbot called Grok.
SAG-AFTRA said over the weekend that it received the studios' last best and final offer following a meeting on Saturday, with the union saying it's reviewing it and considering a response "within the context of the critical issues addressed in our proposals."
Stocks rose slightly as Wall Street looks to continue its momentum with earnings season winding down.
Tyson Foods is recalling about 30,000 of its dino-shaped chicken nuggets after some consumers reported finding small metal pieces in those nuggets.
Google on Monday will try to protect a lucrative piece of its internet empire at the same time it’s still entangled in the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century.
