Who’s looking forward and who’s closing shop

St. John’s restaurant Mohammed Ali goes up for sale
Despite expanding to a second downtown location last year, Ali Al Haijaa has decided to put both his restaurants up for sale with plans to move out of the province — probably somewhere sunnier according to an interview he did with CBC on April 13. Al Haijaa, who immigrated from Palestine 12 years ago, is just another indicator of the difficult economic times in Newfoundland, especially for small-business owners: Last year was his worst to date.

The Charlottetown-based CDMO will benefit from a federal investment to upgrade their Windsor, Nova Scotia facility. The expansion means at least 60 new jobs at the company by 2020 which develops and manufactures drug materials for pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Read more from the Government of Canada announcement here

With last week’s release of the study outlining the viability of a connection between Newfoundland and Labrador via underwater tunnel, Quebec says they are willing to contribute to the project. Premier Philippe Couillard didn’t specify a monetary amount the province would contribute to the 15-year project which is currently expected to cost $1.7 billion.

The former apothecary on Richmond Street has been purchased by Adams Green accounting firm with hopes of transforming the building into a coworking space. The certified B-Corporation aims to provide a community and working space for both not-for-profit and for-profit businesses, to be called The Wheelhouse, fitting right into the Waterloo Village neighbourhood: it’s less than a minute’s walk to the Social Enterprise Hub.

According to Statistics Canada, hotels on the Island saw a profit increase from $800,000 to $9.2-million between 2012 and 2016. With the investment in Confederation celebrations in 2014 and the Canada 150 events in 2017, the accommodations industry saw a substantial increase in occupancy rates.

• Atlantic Canadian startups attract record investments — and 4 other things to know this week
• Win tickets to sold-out Obama event
• Coffee shop opens inside Volta Labs
• Startup Canada awards honour Atlantic entrepreneurs
• Volta bestows ecosystem awards to Atlantic Canadian startup supporters
• Feds invest $47-million into Port of Halifax
• Atlantic Business Magazine founders inducted into AJAs Hall of Fame
• P.E.I. welcomes five business leaders into hall of fame
• UNB to offer cannabis courses in tourism and business
• St. John’s flocks to The Rec Room entertainment and dining complex