10 Small Businesses You Should Know
Small Business Week is an annual celebration of entrepreneurship in Canada and I’m using this time to highlight some of my very favourite businesses – from high quality apparel and toys to sustainable practices and health and wellness services, there is hopefully a business here for you to support.
What: Kids apparel with a purpose
Mission: To create non-gender specific clothing that makes a stylish statement while encouraging individuality and confidence for the future generation.
About: This minimalist t-shirt and apparel brand for toddlers and kids, located in Toronto, Canada, aims to help kids with their inner dialogue. They believe children need to repeatedly hear what makes them unique and extraordinary, so they designed t-shirts, crewneck sweaters and jackets printed with bold, fun, inspirational, empowering messages, quotes and graphics. The Chevron Heart strongly believes that children need positive affirmations and messages to build their confidence and identity.
Why I’m a fan: I love the idea of CK proudly wearing clothing with strong messages and positive affirmations and so I’ve purchased a few shirts for him and for friends’ kids. Afterall, the more confident our kids are, the better humans they will be!
What: Family-owned farming business
Mission: To provide natural quality products, sustainability, minimal processing to provide better quality tasting meat and excellent services to all our customers.
About: The Ferron family - Al, Karen and their four children - moved from Toronto to New Brunswick during the pandemic to fulfill Al’s lifelong dream of owning a farm. Despite having had little experience, they worked hard to prepare their property, acquire animals and most importantly, educate themselves. By 2021 Ferron Farms launched and they’re already known for their grass-fed goat and aspire to see their name in grocery stores and uphold a reputation for best quality and taste!
Why I’m a fan: I’m so inspired and moved by this family and their story. I am an entrepreneurship, but my overhead consists of my laptop and a WeWork space. This is a whole other level! I can’t imagine what it must have taken to venture into a new industry and start lives in a new part of the country. I have so much respect for the Ferron Family.
What: A curated collection of life and style items for you and your cherished little ones.
Mission: To support your child’s most natural and holistic development.
About: Founder/owner Karen, now a mom of three, began curating minimalist decor and accessories with monochrome pallets when she was expecting her first born. As her family has grown, she’s studied minimalist parenting and natural childhood development and brings that knowledge to their collections. Karen prides herself on the collection she’s personally curated for like-minded families, who believe that the best products offer the highest design style, alongside exceptional quality and sustainable materials and manufacturing. The collection includes boutique brands from all corners of the world, offering natural, smart and stunning items that will grow along with your favourite mini humans.
Why I’m a fan: A friend of mine was on the hunt for a realistic-looking doll that looked like her mixed-race niece. This brand had such an amazing collection of diverse dolls that are also very high quality and adorable. Their accessories and lifestyle products are also the same quality and super cute and chic! A mom with a small business like this with purpose, is truly amazing. Karen, I’m a fan!
What: Strength-based approach to help families understand the challenges and exceptionalities of the ADHD brain and meet goals as a parent and for your child.
Mission: To create a safe and welcoming environment for you to be seen, heard and respected for who you are, where you are at in this moment on the journey.
About: Created and developed by Sarah Hawthorn, Compassionately ADHD is a resource for families who - like Sarah and her daughter - are navigating an ADHD diagnosis. Sarah has a B.A in Early Childhood Studies and is a certified Yoga teacher with a background of over 20 years in holistic medicine. Combining her life experiences and working with these various modalities, Sarah has developed a deeply compassionate and unique way to work with and understand your child and family. Some of the services provided include: One-on-one coaching for parents, One-one-one child playshop, a Calm and connected workshop as well as a Calm and connected self-paced parenting course.
Why I’m a fan: I’m especially connected to businesses who have an offering around Autism Spectrum Disorder or ADHD. Individuals and their parents (like myself) with these disorders need support and there’s no one size fits all approach. Seeing a strong mama be so vulnerable and use her expertise to help others is really inspiring.
What: Ruby Crate is an award-winning subscription box designed with tweens and teenage girls in mind.
Mission: To cater to the younger generation's needs and wants - providing an excellent opportunity to create a new box with fun treasures for our girls that are theirs, and theirs alone.
About: Each custom-curated Ruby Crate is filled with 5-7 unique items, from new beauty and skincare to cool accessories, tech gadgets and more! The highly anticipated boxes are delivered to your door four times a year, coinciding with the seasons (March and June, September and December) and are ready to be enjoyed and shared. It’s no wonder Ruby Crate won the ‘Best Teen Box’ two years in a row with the Year of Boxes: Canadian Subscription Box Awards!
Why I’m a fan: I LOVE a subscription box. I have a membership to a couple myself and I would have loved something like this as a teen. Created by a mother-daughter duo to fill a gap in the market is the ultimate family project! Now they are winning awards, selling out and branching into other boxes like the Birthday Crate, Campus Crate and more.
What: The Movement Boutique, better known as TMB, is a vibrant, next generation Toronto functional medicine clinic, Pilates studio and wellness brand that focuses on health empowerment through tailored services.
Mission: TBM believes that true wellness means moving well, feeling amazing and looking great, because internal vibrancy ultimately shows up on the outside!
About: TMB method is a person-centered approach to health - functionally assessing, testing and treating the whole person. TMB treats YOU, not your diagnosis by addressing your current concerns while also future-proofing your body and mindset. TMB empowers their community of wellness seekers and action-takers inspired to change and shows them a new way of thinking to upgrade their health.
Why I’m a fan: The company kept popping up on my IG feed and I was curious about their holistic wellness approach. After six months of toying with the idea, I attended one of their reformer classes and I loved it! Clean, bright and friendly, I highly recommend trying them out.
What: An Indigenous-owned craft brewery in Toronto
Mission: To create fresh beer that feels like home and bespoke beer to help celebrate your life’s milestones.
About: Along with their craft beers, this family-owned and run business works with clients to design and brew bespoke beers, either served on tap at your celebration or packaged to be distributed however you’d like. The idea for bespoke beer was born along with their son. They wanted something special for their family and friends to enjoy upon his arrival. Red Tape believes that the planning aspect of the celebration should be a joyful experience; you’ll meet with their brew master and tasting expert to help determine your beer style, preferred flavours and presentation. You’ll discuss names, artwork, aging options and be a part of the process from start to finish. When it comes to their craft brews, they have everything from lagers and pilsners to saisons and IPA’s – a little something for everyone.
Why I’m a fan: I love a gift you can personalize, and I can’t think of anything better than a personalized beer! It makes a unique gift and elevates any celebration. But really, who needs a reason to celebrate these days? I say making it through a pandemic is reason enough. Their branding is also some of the best I’ve seen. It’s consistent but has various colour palettes to distinguish different products. I can’t wait to get my hands on a cold one!
What: Canada’s Surf Brand
Mission: To empower and support coldwater athletes to engage with and preserve Canadian waters.
About: Surf the Greats aspires to establish and foster community through the adventure of surfing the Great Lakes and beyond. Aiming to unite Canadian surfers from coast to coast and every lake and river in between, they educate, explore, and share through the medium of surf. Surf the Great has a lifestyle apparel shop, a gear shop, a surf school and hold many community events, not to mention contribute 1% of their yearly revenue to their ‘Freshwater Fund’ and direct it to an organization which demonstrates a commitment to protecting our waters.
Why I’m a fan: Full disclosure – the owner is a friend of mine with an amazing story. Antonio left his home in Brazil because he did not feel he could live as his true self in his home country. After meeting his life partner Lucas and moving to Toronto, he was pleasantly surprised to find out his childhood passion of surfing could in fact, be done in Lake Ontario. They founded the business which took off and established an inclusive, cold water surfing community that continues to thrive. There’s even a film about Antonio’s story, Fresh Water. Sadly, Lucas passed away passed away several years ago, but Surf the Greats lives on in his memory.
What: A refill shop to encourage plastic-free living!
Mission: To use every opportunity to educate, inspire and help people make good choices both inside the Refillery and out – to take care of one another and this beautiful planet we call home.
About: The Keep Refillery launched in early 2020 in Creemore, Ontario and despite the many COVID-19 lockdowns, they have since opened two more locations. This team knows their products inside and out – all Canadian made and ethically made, with all-natural ingredients and always cruelty-free, not to mention, compostable, refillable and micro-plastic free! The Keep Refillery is engaged with local schools and want to encourage the younger generation to only know this way of consuming. They want to create an army of change makers, young and old.
Why I’m a fan: This business (owned by friends Andrew and Jacquie) is forward-thinking, visually stunning and best of all, it’s doing the work! Their business makes it easy for the rest of us to dump those single-use plastic containers. Although I’m not near one of those locations, I’m on the hunt for a refillery in my area and I do currently work with a business that provides refills (but supporting local is the best way to go if you can). Check out your community to see if there’s a refillery around you and spread the word! Btw: The Keep Refillery saved over 60,000 pieces of single use plastic from landfills, thank you very much.
What: A curated list of shoppable links and styled outfits to make your closet a more thoughtful space.
Mission: To help you feel comfortable and confident in every situation with a capsule wardrobe that you can mix and match to reduce the stress of getting dressed in the morning.
About: When trying to build a dream closet, more and more people are attempting to do their shopping online, or they want to hire a stylist to help them find a style that is curated for them. Navigating the online shopping realm can be a nightmare and hiring a stylist can be expensive. If you want clothes you’ll love and someone to do the tedious online shopping without having to break the bank, The Digital Style Guide is the answer! You can choose a monthly or yearly membership and have access to links for top trends, affordable piece for the season as well as an investment piece for the month. These key pieces will keep your wardrobe up-to-date and give you the latest new items to incorporate.
Why I’m a fan: I love clothes and I love dressing up, but I have trouble putting together an outfit. There, I said it. I’m 43 and I still need help in this area. When I discovered the Digital Style Guide, I committed to building my wardrobe one key piece at a time with the help of Julianne, the stylist behind DSG, and it’s working. I’ve received so many compliments on the purchases I found through DSG and I couldn’t be happier. The membership is affordable, and someone does all the work for you. I always look forward to receiving my new DSG every month. Next up: a new fall sweater.