Month: August 2020

It’s no mystery that Liberty Village is home to 100s of businesses and 1000s of residents, but some of the businesses on this list might come as a bit of a surprise or give you a new level of LV pride.

From fashion and accessories, to skincare and your favourite summer drinks, Liberty Village is home to it all. Who are these brands and how did they start?

Joe Fresh

Joe Fresh, is a clothing and accessory brand under the Loblaw group of companies. Loblaw created the brand in collaboration with Joe Mimran, co-founder of Club Monaco, the man behind Alfred Sung, you might also recognize him from the well-known CBC tv show, Dragon’s Den.

Joe Fresh focuses on creating affordable fashionable clothing, the brand prides itself on being able to provide access to high-quality garments without the high prices. Before working on the Joe Fresh brand, Joe also worked very closely with Loblaw to develop their President’s Choice Home Collection.

The Joe Fresh office is located at 2 Fraser Avenue just seconds from the Exhibition Go Station and not far from their storefront at King St. West and Portland Avenue.

Image Source: Turner Fleischer

DECIEM

If you don’t already recognize this brand because you own their amazing products, you’ll for sure start to notice their storefronts, especially with one of their original stores being located at Queen West and Niagara, just outside Liberty Village. The beauty brand has also become well known for their The Ordinary product line.

The company’s founder, Brandon Truaxe, became intrigued with the cosmetics industry when he discovered the steep mark-up on beauty products during an internship as an analysist at a cosmetic company in New York City. It was from this intrigue that DECIEM was born. Like Joe Fresh, this is a company that focuses on producing high-quality products for a fraction of the price. Truaxe, sadly passed away last year at the age of 40 years old.

DECIEM’s head office is located at 15 Fraser Avenue, minutes from their Queen St. West storefront.

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Image Source: Cosmetics Mag

Mejuri

Another company we’re proud to call Canadian and Liberty Village locals, is Mejuri. Mejuri, like DECIEM and Joe Fresh also focus on making high-quality products accessible to consumers. The brand focuses on creating high-quality fine gold and silver jewelry accessible to all women to easily purchase for themselves.

The company keeps their prices low and quality high by selling their jewelry direct to consumer and almost exclusively only sell their products online to also aid in eliminating additional mark-ups.

The jewelry company was founded in 2013 by Noura Sakkijha, who has a background in engineering and comes from a family of jewelry designers and Justine Lançon who has a background as an art director.

The company’s Toronto head office is located at 18 Mowat Ave, not far from their Dundas St. West storefront.

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Image Source: Google

Gruppo Campari

Unlike the other companies on our list this one is Italian founded and over 150 years old. The Campari group is responsible for creating over 100 products including a variety of spirits, wines, and soft drinks.

Campari and Aperol are spirits you probably know the, now global company best for. Aperol is especially perfect for hot summer days especially when served as an infamous Aperol Spritz. The company also makes SKYY Vodka, Wild Turkey and Forty Creek Whisky.

The company’s Toronto office is located at 1 Pardee Avenue. The office boasts a dark and dramatic entrance, while the rest of the space gives off a Palm Springs vibe. The space also features a beautiful bar used for cocktail seminars and daily family style lunches.

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Image Source: Toronto Life

Liberty Village is filled with beautiful and dramatic charm, you never know what is going on behind the various closed doors in our neighborhood. What we do know for sure is that our buildings are filled with history, charm, and genius innovation.

At first glance it may not necessarily be obvious how much music is housed right here in Liberty Village, but if you really think about it our neighborhood is the epicenter of music and entertainment in Canada. We have the Budweiser Stage and Echo Beach right down the street, five radio stations, one music entertainment business, a non-profit organization Music Canada and so many others. In addition to this impressive roster we’ll also be welcoming Universal Music Canada to our neighbourhood very soon. 

Universal Music Canada will be moving their headquarters from North York to 80 Atlantic right here in Liberty Village. Jeffery Ramedios, UMC’s president and CEO has a vision for Universal Music Canada to be a community hub for artists, media, partners, and music audiences. 

Universal Music Canada has a roster of Toronto talent including but not limited to, Drake, The Weekend, Alessia Cara, Shawn Mendes, and Jazz Cartier. 

When announcing the company’s move to Liberty Village, the president and CEO notes, “80 Atlantic will mark a new phase in the growth and evolution of Toronto’s music community, enabling artists to fully refine their craft here at home rather than resorting to exporting it raw for others to finish before bringing it to market”. 

Universal Music Canada will be 80 Atlantic’s main tenant taking over 40,000 square feet of 87,000 square foot building. The headquarters will boast recording and performance facilities, retail opportunities, and artist promotional spaces. 

The company mentions in their press release announcing their move to 80 Atlantic that Liberty Village is “at the heart of a culturally relevant community, within blocks of print, online, and broadcast media partners, music licensors and digital distributors, social media platforms, instrument makers, and music associations.”

Among those companies and associations are Music Canada, Live Nation, Roland, Zoomer Radio, Indie 88, SirusXM, Jazz.FM, and The Post Office. 

Music Canada – Music Canada is a non-profit organization that advocates for music and the artists who create it. They do this by promoting the interests of its members, partners, and artists through various activities including; administrating the gold/platinum awards program for best-selling records in Canada, gathering and sharing technical, statistical and other information about Canada’s music community and so much more. The Music Canada team calls 85 Mowat Avenue, in Liberty Village home. 

Live Nation – Live Nation is responsible for bringing 40,000 shows, over 100 festivals to life and selling 500 million tickets to events worldwide each year. The global company produces concerts, sells tickets and connects brands to music. Liberty Village is home to the Lounge at Live Nation concert venue located at 15 Hanna Avenue.  

Roland – Roland manufactures electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. The company has manufactured instruments that have had lasting impacts on music and have played a large role in shaping electronic music. The Roland Inspiration Centre, located at 1179 King St. West, in Liberty Village acts as a community hub for music makers and gives musicians a chance to test our instruments that might not be otherwise easily available. 

Zoomer Media – Zoomer Media is a radio station, based out of Liberty Village. Through their various shows they offer Oldies Pop and Rock, Big Band Jazz, and Old Time Radio from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. They also have a sister station called The New Classical, and have the largest broadcast footprint in North America and is the only AM channel still playing music in Canada’s largest market. Zoomer, goes beyond radio and is made up of four TV stations, five radio stations, including The New Classical FM. Zoomer Media made the move from their 550 Queen St. East studio to 70 Jefferson Avenue in Liberty Village in 2013, which is also home to the largest MZTV – Museum of Television. 

Indie 88 – Indie 88 launched almost exactly 7 years ago today, on August 3^rd, 2013. They were Canada’s first Indie radio station. The station prides itself on providing a platform for emerging artists while playing homage the classics that inspired them. The media company is also a multi-media hub for news, local lifestyle, and pop-culture content focused on unique and engaging stories. Indie 88 has called 20 Hanna Avenue in Liberty Village home since their launch back in 2013. 

SiriusXM Canada – SiriusXM, founded in 2008, provides satellite radio and online radio services that are available in your car, home, and on the go. SirusXM subscribers get access to ad-free music, artist dedicated channels, comedy, entertainment, and sports coverage. The US based company’s only Canadian based recording studio calls 135 Liberty St. home. 

Jazz.FM – Jazz.FM started 70 years ago as a radio station at Ryerson University with the purpose of training radio and television broadcast students. First launching with funding from donations from listeners, corporations, and foundations, it continued to grow into a 24-hour jazz station. The station now also provides programs that support emerging artists, education and music therapy. It’s Canada’s only broadcaster and registered not-for-profit charitable arts organization dedicated to enriching the cultural, educational and community experience of their audience. The Jazz.FM studio is located at 4 Pardee Ave, in Liberty Village. 

The Post Office – The Post Office is a creative audio production agency that offers services ranging from full-service audio production and post-production, artist management and development, and lifestyle and influencer content. The Post Office has worked with brands ranging from Canadian Tire, VICE, Beer Fest, Ford Canada, Tesla, Google, The Toronto Raptors and Much Music. Their studio located at 171 East Liberty St. and boasts a 5.1 floating mix room, a fully equipped podcasting and voice over booth, and a 600-square-foot pop-up gallery and event space.

Needless to say, Universal Music Canada has definitely made the right choice in choosing Liberty Village as their new home. We look forward to the company moving into the neighbourhood and seeing all the potential collaborations and growth come to life among all businesses from the varying industries in Liberty Village.