A popular cafe on Elgin Street that has become known for its daytime and nighttime offerings is expanding, with a new location now open in the ByWard Market. Last week, Wise Town Café opened at 375 Dalhousie St. in the Mercury Court building. Founder and CEO Dhulfiqar “Duffy” Merza told OBJ that the desire to […]
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.
A popular cafe on Elgin Street that has become known for its daytime and nighttime offerings is expanding, with a new location now open in the ByWard Market.
Last week, Wise Town Café opened at 375 Dalhousie St. in the Mercury Court building. Founder and CEO Dhulfiqar “Duffy” Merza told OBJ that the desire to expand beyond the flagship location on Elgin Street came from a desire to market the café’s locally made products. About 90 per cent of Wise Town’s products, from coffee to tea and matcha, are roasted or made locally.
“The production to ensure these products are Canadian, 100 per cent local products (pushed) us to (look for) another hub,” he said. “One location was also not enough anymore to accommodate our traffic, so we decided to (open) the Dalhousie location as another hub for our customers based on the requests we got from that area.”
In searching for a spot for his second café, Merza said the Dalhousie location appealed for its history and proximity to the ByWard Market.
“We didn’t have a presence in the ByWard Market and we know it has a special connection to Ottawa, especially that building. Mercury Courts was the Larocque’s (department store) building, the first French department store in Ottawa, and it’s the same building as the Swedish embassy,” Merza said.
The ByWard Market has seen a high turnover rate for businesses in the years since the pandemic, and Merza said he saw an opportunity to bring new life.
“We saw the ByWard Market area has been a little dead in the last two years. I wanted to put it back in business.”
While the Elgin location is known for its café-by-day, lounge-by-night concept, Merza said the Dalhousie location will be a dry location.
“We didn’t want to put alcohol in that location because of problems in the area,” he said. “We’re open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to attract more traffic to that area. We want to create our own sanctuary there, like we did on Elgin,” he said, adding that he hopes the Dalhousie café will be a family-friendly attraction in the Market.
Merza said customers can expect the same Wise Town experience as the Elgin Street location.
“Our expectation is to deliver the same quality. We have spent three years talking actively with the community about our 100 per cent local, made-in-Canada concept … It’s something that makes us very proud,” he said.
More Wise Town locations to come
The Wise Town expansion plan doesn’t end at Dalhousie Street, as Merza eyes locations in the east and west ends of the city.
“We actively have plans to expand. Two of the locations are already (secured) and construction (on one of them is ongoing). One of them is guaranteed to open in about 12 weeks, but we will have details on that very soon,” he said.
Merza said expansion helps ensure the sustainability of the business. “We’re not a pop-up business. We’re looking for long-term,” he said.
Merza, who immigrated to Canada from Iraq, said he’s found a solid base in Ottawa. By building on his success at Wise Town, he’s “paying it forward” so his kids have something to work toward and fall back on, he said.
“This is something that I decided to do for my family. I am teaching my kids to do everything to keep it going.”
