07/09/2025
From the Windsor Star
How is former Toronto Raptors boss helping Amherstburg grow into 'hottest community in Essex County'?
Rather than go quietly into retirement, the former Toronto-based CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and his wife have instead been busy boosting the Town of Amherstburg economy with targeted cool investments. This is part of Postmedia's How Canada Wins: Love Where We Live summer series.
Author of the article:By Madeline Mazak
Published Jul 09, 2025
Last updated 2 minutes ago
'I think it's the hottest community in Essex County.' Richard Peddie, owner of River Bookshop in the Town of Amherstburg, stands outside the independent bookstore on Saturday, July 5, 2025.
It started with a simple little smalltown bookshop.
When Richard Peddie retired as president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, he and his wife Colleen left Toronto for a slower pace of living in the Town of Amherstburg.
Managing a professional basketball team had been his dream — one he fulfilled at the helm of the Toronto Raptors. In retirement, however, he has stumbled upon a new passion: championing the historic riverfront town located in Canada’s deep south at the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County.
“I don’t understand passive retirement,” Peddie told the Windsor Star while sitting in Art Alley. A once-lacklustre lane he helped transform with vibrant murals, it’s now a physical anchor of the town’s growing art scene and regular art crawls.
Before moving here, Peddie was familiar with the historic town, as a former Windsor resident and University of Windsor graduate.
“Fortunately, we’re financially okay, so we can put our money where our mouth is. But I think anyone can become a champion. Get involved, run for town council, support the library. Be a YIMBY — yes in my backyard — not a NIMBY.”
Five years ago, the couple purchased and restored an 1885 heritage building on Richmond Street, which became the town’s independent bookstore, River Bookshop.
More businesses followed less than a year later: White Woods Home, a kitchenware store; and Evelyn’s, a candy shop. Then came The Panetteria bakery and then an elevated cocktail bar above the bookstore called Hole in the Wall.
At Evelyn’s candy shop in Amherstburg, retail manager Beth England prepares treats behind the counter on Saturday, July 5, 2025.
“We committed to bringing in businesses that didn’t exist in town,” Peddie explains.
Windsor and Essex County are facing strong economic headwinds with U.S. trade threats, but local leaders see great long-term promise. Shown here at Museum Windsor on Feb. 11, 2025: one of the historic original Maple Leaf flags flown on Parliament Hill on Feb. 15, 1965.
How Canada Wins: U.S trade threats seen as short-term blip to rapid growth reshaping Windsor-Essex County
Ryan Donally, president and CEO of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce says
Windsor area's future prosperity rests on mixing and building on our strengths
The couple launched Black Dog Entertainment, which continued investing millions into Amherstburg over the years. He muses on this approach in his recent book, Great Small Towns of Ontario, as being essential to placemaking and building livable communities.
“Great towns cost money,” Peddie wrote. “A town has to invest — they can’t cut themselves to the top.”
It wasn’t long before other changemakers followed.
Other new businesses began opening in Amherstburg’s historic core, including Hotel STRY, a boutique hotel with a trendy bar and restaurant called ‘The O’ on the main floor.
Beavertails; Bucket List Coffee Roastery; a gourmet popcorn shop; and Pepper Cat restaurant soon joined the mix. These businesses complemented longstanding local spots like Caffeine & Company and The Salty Dog.
“It was just boom, boom, boom,” said Peddie.
“Now, traffic is up, and we’ve got a bookstore that actually makes money. All of our businesses are viable.”
‘Great small towns cost money’ — Richard Peddie, former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, stands inside River Bookshop on Saturday, July 5, 2025, which he opened five years ago in a restored 1885 building in Amherstburg.
The kitchenware shop will soon relocate from its current 450-square-foot space to a larger 2,500-square-foot location across the street, said Peddie. A new retail concept is in the works for the vacated smaller storefront.
Foot traffic has increased. Peddie said the town’s 2020 decision to launch Amherstburg Open Air Weekends, a summer initiative that closes streets to vehicles, has further encouraged a pedestrian-friendly downtown.
While some business owners have raised concerns about reduced vehicle access, Peddie maintains that walkability is essential to building a thriving town.
It’s a theme he frequently returns to in his book, where he profiles nine other communities across the province, including Goderich, Elora, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Hope, Cobourg, Picton, Perth, and Almonte.
Peddie points to other strategies, like improving streetscapes, adding protected cycling lanes, supporting the arts, and protecting heritage. Tourism, according to Peddie, is important for small town’s to thrive economically.
“We had Allied Chemical, we had Boblo Island — we lost those,” said Peddie.
“When you read the book, you’ll see what those small towns lost. Now, they’d all like to get some of that back. The thing is tourism.”
An outdoor original artpiece titled ‘Dreams’ by muralist David ‘DERKZ’ Derkatz brightens the corner of Richmond Street and Ramsay Street in Amherstburg’s Art Alley on July 5, 2025.
Peddie has funded many of the murals in Art Alley, partnered with Art-Windsor Essex to launch a ‘Look Again! Outside’ display series, which places framed reproductions of artworks on streets. He also collaborates with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra to bring live music downriver in downtown Amherstburg.
He believes the town’s rich Black and Indigenous history make it an important destination.
Amherstburg was once a key entry point for freedom seekers escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad, and it sits on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe peoples. In 1796, Fort Malden was established, and has since been designated a National Historic Site.
The Peddies are being recognized for their work.
In 2021, they received the Peter Stokes Restoration Award for their restoration of the 1885 building. In 2025, their role in revitalizing downtown Amherstburg was recognized with a win at the Windsor Business Excellence Awards.
Accolades aside, Peddie said their work is not done yet.
Time moves at a more gentle pace in Amherstburg, a historic riverfront town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County and home to nearly 23,500 residents. Fort Malden was established here in 1796.
Looking ahead, he sees potential for a second boutique hotel and envisions Amherstburg becoming a cycling destination. He has proposed repurposing low-traffic streets for ‘third places.’
“The town is healthy, it’s really healthy,” said Peddie. “I think it’s the hottest community in Essex County.”
