The
His departure — for which the company offered no explanation — is the latest surprise shakeup at Indigo, which has faced a slew of leadership changes over the last year.
The biggest was the departure of
Before her retirement, four of Indigo's 10 directors left the board, with Chika Stacy Oriuwa attributing her resignation to a “loss of confidence in board leadership” and “mistreatment.”
Pressure was on Ruis, who was Indigo's president before taking the top job, to bring stability to the company's leadership and put his own stamp on Indigo. As recently as last month, he claimed his ideas have the backing of his team.
"I think we definitely have everyone's support," Ruis told The Canadian Press in an
His vision for the company centred on continuing Indigo's longtime goal of blending books and home goods across stores.
He intended to put the strategy to the test once more at an urban concept store the company plans to launch the first of at The Well building in
It was due to sell pastries, coffee, beer and wine, have a listening booth, arcade area and nooks dedicated to home fragrances, plants and popular Japanese graphic novels known as Manga.
But Ruis conceded drawing customers in would take more work because inflation has reduced buying power and the company faced a February cyberattack that downed its website and hampered sales.
“Naturally, when you close something down for a little bit of time, you lose a few customers on the way and you have to beckon them back,” he said.
“The good news is each week, more of them come back, but it’s definitely, I would say, still a challenge for us to get everyone back.”
Ruis seemed up to the task and Reisman even praised his "his wealth of knowledge and expertise" across
At womenswear chain
When he joined the company as president in
Now that he's leaving, Ruis has agreed to serve as a consultant to Indigo for the next two months "to support a smooth transition in leadership."
"With Peter's departure, the board is focused on acting swiftly to determine the right leader to move the company forward," the board said in its statement.
In the interim, Indigo's chief financial officer
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
Companies in this story: (TSX:IDG)
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