Scenes from Shopify HQ, Part 4: The Big Room

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In addition to new office space, Shopify also occupies what used to be the Capital Music Hall. While the office space is largely complete (there are still a couple of rooms that are still getting furnished), the big room — I believe it will eventually be called “The Lounge” — is still undergoing renovation. It was far along enough for us to have an end-of-week all-hands meeting at the end of Friday afternoon.

The photo above shows a view of the north side of the room, as seen from the balcony. The photo below was taken from the same vantage point, but southward:

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Here’s a view from the ground floor, looking northward:

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The all-hands meeting took place yesterday afternoon as work wound down. We grabbed a beer or two from the kitchen fridge (Friday afternoon beer is one of the many perks of working at Shopify) and made our way to the Lounge…

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…where Daniel Weinand, Shopify’s Chief Design Officer and Chief Culture Officer, addressed the troops:

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None of the announcements were earth-shaking, but now that the company’s grown to a hundred people spread over two floors in Ottawa as well as people working from Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg, all on many different projects, it helps to have a gathering where we can all get together.

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As I write this, I’m back in my home office in Accordion City. While I do like living in Toronto, I’m a big fan of travel and enjoy coming up to Ottawa and visiting Shopify HQ. It’s a great place, made even better by the people with whom I work: a smart, fun bunch.

And then there are these guys 😉 :

Shopifolks Edward Ocampo-Gooding, Daniel Beauchamp and Willem van Bergen.
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