When Bev Ardith Coons and Bill Don met in 1970, she was working at a bank and he was working as an accountant. “We both knew this was not what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives,” says Bev. Chasing their entrepreneurial desires, they pursued their ambitions and a year later they opened Ardith One—a pottery and gift shop that specializes in one-of-a-kind artisanal housewares. The following year, the couple got married. More than 40 years since their launch, they’re still going strong with orders coming in from as far away as Europe.
Located in the Yonge Lawrence Village in Toronto, the shop didn’t start out as a gift store. “We had pottery, we had artificial flowers, we had antiques and we had pub signs,” explains Bev. Then clients started asking for boxes for products as they wanted to give them as gifts. “Now we have 13 box sizes and we gift wrap for free.”
