Retail
Nicole McLaren started Raven Reads as a workplace book club that focused exclusively on First Nation, Métis and Inuit authors (she’s a member of the Métis Nation herself). After seeing the impact the books had on her coworkers, McLaren launched...
Leading a small, burgeoning company that sells luxury products is hardly economic high ground during a pandemic. But Gary Chang still considers himself one of the lucky ones. Because manufacturing was considered an essential service throughout COVID-19, Chang’s shoe business, Skye...
In the highly competitive grocery business, Darrell Jones knows how important it is to understand what your rivals are doing. “If they do something well, go and copy it and make it better,” says the president of Save-On-Foods, which shares...
With summer upon us, British Columbians keep snatching up bicycles faster than stores can stock them. COVID-19 kicked sales into high gear as people sought a safe outdoor escape, and the boom shows no sign of slowing down. We asked...
Dolly Tan wasn’t planning to become part of a global network of people who buy things in other countries—everything from Canada Goose jackets to makeup to food products—to ship them to people in China for a fee. But a few years...
Let the hard kombucha races begin. Just days after Vancouver's Plenty became the first Canadian company to launch a hard kombucha in July, Arlo Hard Kombucha made its play, becoming available in select stores in Vancouver. As the ready-to-drink market in the country and...
As unique and diverse as we claim our home to be, there’s a few brands that really dominate the casual fashion world—especially in the summer. For activewear, it’s Lululemon. Birkenstocks have the sandal category dominated. And when the sun goes...
Life Story: Courtney Peters found her way to business by way of banking and medicine. Although the Surrey native comes from an entrepreneurial family, she had no plans to head in the same direction. Peters, who got her first job...
Life Story: After growing up in Regina with a janitor father and warehouse worker mother, Joe Parenteau knew he just had to go somewhere the weather was a bit better. So he followed a golf scholarship to William Woods University...
Selene Dior launched Vitae Apparel–named for the Latin word for life–in December 2016 while she was studying for her first-year finals. Dior dropped out of school (“my mom was pissed,” she laughs) to focus all of her efforts on the company, pivoting it to athletic wear in 2018.