Shopify Puts Down Roots in L.A. With First Retail Space
*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).
Scores of Boston University students turned their backs on the head of one of Hollywood's biggest studios, and some shouted “pay your writers,” as he gave the school's commencement address Sunday in a stadium where protesters supporting the Hollywood writers' strike picketed outside.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking that a federal judge be disqualified from the First Amendment lawsuit filed by Disney against the Florida governor and his appointees, claiming the jurist's prior statements in other cases have raised questions about his impartiality on the state's efforts to take over Disney World's governing body.
Ford CEO Jim Farley says the company will stop competing in over-served market segments and instead will place big bets on connected vehicles and digital services. The days of Ford being all things to all people are over, Farley said at the company's capital markets day event Monday.
The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday and ordered it to stop transferring users personal information across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears.
Joanne Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mycocycle Inc., joined Cheddar News to discuss how her company uses mushrooms to decarbonize construction waste. "Mycocycle was started to address the waste mismanagement issue we have," she said. "Globally, we've got overflowing landfills that are creating human and environmental health issues."
The World Economic Forum recently released its future of jobs report and broke down what abilities employers are looking for. Julia Pollak, chief labor economist at ZipRecruiter, joined Cheddar News to discuss what top, in-demand job skills are needed in the rapidly-changing economy.
James Demmert, founder and chief investment officer of Main Street Research, joined Cheddar News to discuss market trends as investors digest mixed trading sessions with debt ceiling talks stalling.
