The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that for its 19 years in existence, Shopify has been synonymous with Ottawa. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe says that founder and chief executive officer Tobi Lutke built and grew the e-commerce software brand in this country's capital, but these days, Ottawa is seemingly no longer the centre of Shopify's universe. Many of its top-ranking executives, Mr. Lutke included, recently departed the city and several others never bothered to move there in the first place. They instead sprinkled themselves across Canada and the United States -- the product of a pandemic-inspired permanent remote-work evolution. Shopify watchers say the decentralization away from Ottawa signals the company is turning a corner. "The centre of gravity of Shopify, I think, definitely seems to be shifting," said Rick Watson, founder of RMW Commerce Consulting. Mr. Lutke relocated to Toronto to be closer to family and the company's engineers, while his No. 2, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein, moved to Montreal recently to be nearer to his aging parents, sister and wife's family. Meanwhile, chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister and chief human resources officer Tia Silas live in New York.