Page 38 - INSIGHT MAGAZINE Digital_Neat

MEMBER PROFILE

Life often takes you on different
paths.
Accepting that the path to a chosen goal
can take many turns was a piece of advice
instilled in Larissa Gadsby many years
go which the clothing store owner still
embraces while continuing to chart a new
and exciting course.
“That was the advice my dad gave me when
I was getting ready for university,” she says,
seated comfortably in her office at Gadsbys
Clothing Co & BRAE’s downtown Cambridge
location. “Honestly, it comes back to me
many times that there are many paths to
your goals and when you fully understand
that it’s so freeing because then you can
actually make decisions that are best for
you.”
A critical decision the entrepreneur and
mother of two made in mid-2022 was to
leave her successful career as a pediatric
nurse practitioner at a hospital in London,
Ontario, to join her husband, Brandon, full
time about six months after the couple
purchased the family business from his
uncle and aunt. Paul and Gail Gadsby – who
had worked at the store for many years -
rebranded the popular Preston menswear
store as ‘Gadsby’s Clothing’ after taking it
over in 2009 from its former owner Michael
Somer, whose father Sid, had operated it
as Sid Somer’s Men’s Wear since opening
in 1929.
“I was working 50 to 60 hours a week at
the hospital while commuting to London
and Brandon was working long hours at
the store, plus we had two small kids, so
we thought ‘How are we going to do this?’,”
says Larissa.
“It was a tough call to walk away from an
incredible job and team and a lot of people
didn’t understand but for us, it was the
best way we could support our family and
‘There are many paths allow me to be the mom I wanted to be and
be there for my kids.”

to your goals’ - Larissa Gadsby Helping children was something that she
has always gravitated towards, recalling
while growing up in Waterloo she worked
as a lifeguard during her teens. She also
had a keen interest in science and anything
medical-related which influenced her
interest to enter the health field.

PHOTOS BY BRIAN RODNICK

38 Winter 2026 www.cambridgechamber.com