Sudbury’s Bell Excellence Award winners survived during difficult times
Thursday evening, the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce hosted the 25th annual Bell Business Excellence Awards.
This year, the chamber received 146 nominations for its 10 award categories.
Among the winners was Black Labb, a clothing company that was founded by two Sudburians in 2020. It won the Business Start-Up award.
One of the co-owners, Linda Audette, said winning was a surreal feeling
“We’re still taking a little time to process it," Audette said.
"It’s really nice to get a tap on the back. It’s truly our customers that are designing for us, we’re just bringing all of the ideas to the table and making it happen.”
“I mean, you don’t actually go to an award ceremony thinking you’re going to win, and we were up against some amazing businesses,” added co-owner Becky Calabakas.
Audette owns The Plus Size Factor, where Black Labb clothing is sold. She had to close the doors on multiple occasions due to the pandemic, but she said it all led to where they are now.
“We were deemed non-essential, but continued with our curbside (sales), with our online store and also continued with our manufacturing," Audette said.
"There was a lack of shipping, a lack of goods available, even throughout Canada -- our Canadian manufacturers were suffering just like we were. So, we said, let’s do this and we went right into manufacturing and we (held) our first launch party in September 2020."
The Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Kyle Marcus, owner of The Alibi Room.
He said he couldn’t have won the award without his staff.
“It’s absolutely overwhelming,” said Marcus.
“It’s really hard to take credit for things, especially when you don’t really feel like you did them all on your own. I have an exceptional team that I honour every chance that I get."
Now that lockdowns seem to be a thing of the past, he is looking forward to a busy summer.
“We’re really excited for patio season," Marcus said.
"We have an even larger patio coming this year. You know, we really see that community aspect, COVID really showed people that we need each other, that we need to be together … Having my team back to work is an incredible blessing.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.