The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Shopify is taking its battle with digital retail goliath Amazon.com Inc. to the streets of Vancouver in a fight for tech talent. The Globe's Josh O'Kane and Sean Silcoff write that Shopify has in recent years positioned itself as the leading tool for digital merchants to stand out in a market that Amazon dominates. Now, nearly two years after Amazon unveiled plans to hire 3,000 people in the city north of its home in Seattle, Shopify said Tuesday it too would open an office just a few blocks away, hiring 1,000 people spread over four floors of the Bentall Centre office complex. Shopify's expansion into Vancouver comes as global tech companies have descended upon the city for hiring sprees of their own, reshaping the city and its technology scene. Even before Shopify's announcement, local tech leaders have said Amazon's most recent plan to occupy a whole downtown block and hire as many as 10,000 there would trigger a talent war, boost wages and drive immigration while also adding extra pressure to one of the country's hottest housing markets. Also this month, Mastercard Inc. said it would hire 270 employees for a research-and-development centre in Vancouver.