Gareth Davies Closed His Store on Black Friday | Hot Ones and Zeros

One pandemic-era Black Friday, Gareth Davies closed Maker House to protect his team. Then everyone who would have walked in ordered online instead. Prepping your own store for Black Friday? Start here: https://www.noibu.com/bfcm?utm_source... On this episode of Hot Ones and Zeros, Kailin Noivo, co-founder and president of Noibu, sits down with Gareth Davies, founder and CEO of Maker House Co., to talk peak season while the wings get hotter. Gareth turned a three-month pop-up lease in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighborhood into an 11-year local retail staple with 3,000+ SKUs from 300+ makers. He’s run Black Friday through a pandemic, a store full of online orders, and his own Give Back Friday tradition. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:09 Welcome to Hot Ones and Zeros 0:25 Wing 1: From a three-month pop-up lease to 11 years 1:36 Wing 2: The time his grandfather passed on bringing IKEA to Canada 2:41 Wing 3: Taking 3,000 SKUs online (and becoming a COVID delivery driver) 4:04 Wing 4: Black Friday vs. real margins: Give Back Friday 5:36 Wing 5: Code freeze for lean ecommerce teams 6:50 Wing 6: What selling radio ads taught him about trust 8:32 Wing 7: How Maker House uses Noibu’s AI agents 10:49 Wing 8: Why live shopping hasn’t taken off in North America 12:48 Wing 9: Closing the store on Black Friday 14:15 Wing 10: The hardest call he’s made as a founder Watch more Hot Ones and Zeros: [playlist link] Maker House Co.: [Maker House website] Noibu, AI for ecommerce operations: https://www.noibu.com/?utm_source=you... #BlackFriday #ecommerce #Shopify