My favourite read of the week was an inspiring post that showed how Shopify helped Great Lakes Brewery pivot in the pandemic. Now this certainly brings together two of my favourite subjects – investing and craft beer. What is inspiring is how these two Canadian success stories came together to create opportunity out of despair.
Shopify is more than an incredible Canadian tech story. Shopify is quietly taking on the giants. The company is second to Amazon in online retail. The tech darling is making headlines around the globe.
From this maker.medium post …
From that David. H. Freeman post, Great Lakes Brewing Co. CEO Peter Bulut sets the stage …
Back on March 13, when Covid-19 was creeping its way into Toronto, Bulut started taking small precautions, like suspending in-store beer tastings. Then the full weight of the calamity struck with stunning speed. Two days later he closed the restaurant and store. Most of the bars and restaurants he supplied beer to were closing, too. Five days after that, facing a 50% drop in business, he laid off a quarter of his 52 employees. “I didn’t sleep for two weeks after that,” recalls Bulut. “When you’re the owner, it’s your fault.”
And now I will give away the happy ‘ending’. Shopify developed a creative strategy and provided the tools and technology that allowed Great Lakes to sell their wonderful beers online. A home delivery model was part of the model.
Turning the tables.
“I feel guilty saying it,” he says, “but sales-wise we’re about 15% ahead of where we were before the pandemic.”
Peter Bulut, CEO of Great Lakes Brewing.
I’ll let you read the article to discover how Great Lakes turned the tables and turned the taps back on. How Shopify helped Great Lakes Brewery to pivot is an incredible story. In the new normal businesses and individuals must learn how to adapt and reinvent.
The beer.
Thanks to hops …
One of my favourites. I love the artwork as well.
More Weekend Reads …
Here’s how a Fitbit or Apple Watch can detect COVID-19 in the very early stages. Of course those devices will detect changes in breathing and heart rates. Incredible.
Yes you might purchase the Series 5. Full disclosure – Apple shareholder 🙂
On MoneySense Jason Heath looks at the cost of socially responsible investing.
I was back for round three on MoneySense as I made sense of the markets for the past week. Headlines that grabbed by attention included Tesla being added (potentially) to the S&P 500 after positive earnings. I also looked at the telco sector and the precarious position of Canadian small businesses.
On Savvy New Canadians Enoch looks at the pending crypto currency offering from Wealthsimple. You can sign up for the wait list. I may get in line to see what’s going on in crypto-land at Canada’s most famous Robo Advisor.
From the irrelevant investor, the history of stock and bond yields.
Brian Belski, the Chief Investment Officer for BMO suggests that the stock run is justified and he sees further gains.
On myownadvisor Mark asks if he should invest in taxable accounts.
Taxes and Trump.
On findependencehub, a very good piece on estate planning. Are you planning for you, or your estate? And Jonathan Chevreau looks at Mary Trump’s entertaining read on Uncle Donnie.
And on eatsleepbreathfi, finally the FIRE crowd is starting to listen to me …
Genymoney offers up the 5 favourites for Canadian dividend stocks. That’s a solid grouping.
And TawCan answers your dividend and dividend ETF questions
All About The Dividends is all about the latest dividend increase, thanks to Walgreens. I also hold that in our US stock portfolio. That link is to my recent performance update.
Dividend Athlete looked at 3M, one of my holdings that never seems to do much. It just keeps paying and increasing the dividend.
Milliondollarjourney looks at the best high interest savings accounts for 2020.
This week the Maple Money podcast looks at surprising insights on side hustles.
Mike The Dividend Guy looked at one of his holdings and the Disney parks ‘reopening’. I had also looked at Disney in this MoneySense post.
From VOX, the unusual consequences of COVID-19, and how younger groups are affected more emotionally.
And I’ll be back soon with an update on the popular BMO Low Volatility ETF. They have recently conducted their semi-annual rebalancing. It’s interesting to note that no stocks were removed from the fund.
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you in the comment section. Please don’t forget to share and follow.
Canada’s top-ranked discount brokerage.
Cut The Crap Investing readers can sign up with Questrade (Canada’s top-ranked discount brokerage) through this partnership link. You can buy ETFs for free, including the wonderful one ticket options.
While I do not accept monies for feature blogs please click here on the mission and ‘how I might get paid’ disclosures.
Dale
Great Lakes Brewery is in Cleveland, Ohio not Toronto.
Thanks Gene, there is also one in Toronto. From that medium post … “Back on March 13, when Covid-19 was creeping its way into Toronto, Bulut started taking small precautions, like suspending in-store beer tastings.”
I’ve heard good things about the Cleveland GLB as well.
Dale