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10 Women-Owned & Women-Founded Businesses in Toronto to Discover in 2026

Discover 10 women-owned and women-founded Toronto businesses across food, fashion, wellness, sports, hospitality, jewellery, books and local culture.

By AD18 Editorial
Woman small business owner opening a flower shop

Toronto’s independent business scene is shaped by entrepreneurs working across food, fashion, hospitality, wellness, retail, sports and the arts.

Women entrepreneurs are an important part of that mix.

Destination Toronto's updated 2026 guide highlights a range of women-owned businesses across the city, while individual business websites provide additional information about founders, ownership and current operations.

For this AD18 Local guide, we looked for Toronto businesses whose women ownership, founding or leadership is supported by current public information.

This is not a ranking and these businesses are not being presented as the “best” women-owned businesses in Toronto.

They are simply 10 businesses and organizations worth discovering across different industries and neighbourhoods.

Editorial transparency: No business paid for inclusion in this article. Inclusion is editorial and is not an endorsement or ranking.

1. Her Game Toronto

Toronto’s women’s-sports scene continues to grow, and Her Game Toronto has built a community specifically around that momentum.

Co-founders Casey Campbell and Jessie Vasseur created Her Game Toronto to celebrate Toronto’s professional women’s teams, highlight female athletes and bring women’s-sports fans together.

Both founders came to the project with backgrounds in athletics, coaching and community building.

Campbell leads creative and media work, while Vasseur focuses on events, partnerships and strategy.

The result is not a conventional retail business. It is a Toronto-grown sports community built around the idea that women’s teams and athletes deserve greater visibility.

For fans of basketball, hockey, soccer and the broader growth of women’s sports in Canada, it is a local project worth knowing about.

Explore Toronto entertainment and attraction businesses →

2. Chocolat de Kat

If supporting a local business sounds better when chocolate is involved, Chocolat de Kat is an easy Toronto company to notice.

Founder Kata Ambrus started making bonbons while working as a baker at Toronto’s De Mello Coffee.

After developing the product and selling at the One of a Kind show, she officially launched Chocolat de Kat in 2018.

The business has since grown from a small operation into a Toronto chocolate company with its own production facility and retail presence.

Its focus remains highly specific: colourful, handcrafted bonbons and chocolate products built around unusual flavours and presentation.

The company’s own 2026 history also shows how it continues to evolve as a Canadian brand while remaining rooted in Toronto.

Discover Toronto restaurants and food businesses →

3. Grape Witches

Grape Witches was founded by Nicole Campbell and Krysta Oben and has become a recognizable part of Toronto’s wine and hospitality scene.

The business grew from an interest in making natural wine feel more approachable.

Today, Grape Witches combines retail, hospitality, events and wine education.

Campbell brings years of wine-industry experience, while Oben has worked extensively as a sommelier and wine educator.

That combination helped build a business where wine discovery is presented as something social and accessible rather than something reserved for experts.

Destination Toronto’s current women-owned-business guide also highlights Grape Witches as part of the city’s independent food and hospitality landscape.

Discover Toronto restaurants and food businesses →

4. Made You Look Jewellery

Parkdale’s Made You Look Jewellery is part jewellery store, part gallery and part working studio.

Founder and owner Sarah Dougall opened Made You Look in 2001 after graduating from George Brown College’s Jewellery Arts program.

Her original idea was to create a space where independent jewellers could both make and sell their work.

More than two decades later, the business represents over 100 Canadian jewellery designers, while approximately 20 independent jewellers work onsite.

That gives Made You Look a model that is different from a conventional jewellery retailer.

A purchase can support not only the storefront but a wider network of Canadian designers and makers.

Dougall and Made You Look were also recognized with the Canadian Jewellery Association’s Impact Award in 2025.

Browse Toronto shopping and retail businesses →

5. SMYTHE

Toronto fashion label SMYTHE was founded by longtime friends Andrea Lenczner and Christie Smythe.

The brand launched in 2004 with a strong focus on women’s tailoring, particularly the blazer.

It has since expanded into a broader ready-to-wear fashion business.

SMYTHE describes itself as an independent, Toronto-based business, with Lenczner and Smythe continuing to lead the brand as founders and co-designers.

The company is a useful example of a Toronto business that grew well beyond a neighbourhood customer base while maintaining its local identity.

Supporting local businesses does not always mean shopping at very small storefronts.

Some Toronto-founded companies grow into internationally recognized brands while continuing to operate from the city.

Browse Toronto shopping and retail businesses →

6. Ode Toronto

Ode Toronto offers a very different alternative to the large hotel brands operating across the city.

The Dundas West boutique hotel was opened by Tiffany Ramsubick alongside members of her family.

Destination Toronto identifies Ode as a Black-, woman- and queer-owned business.

The hotel’s identity is closely connected to the surrounding neighbourhood.

Rooms incorporate work from Toronto artists and designers, while the business regularly directs visitors toward nearby independent restaurants, cafés and shops.

Ode itself describes the hotel as a family business built around Dundas Street West rather than a conventional corporate hotel experience.

That makes the neighbourhood part of the product rather than simply the hotel’s address.

Explore Toronto travel and accommodation businesses →

7. Nutbar

Founder and CEO Kate Taylor Martin opened the first Nutbar in Toronto’s Summerhill neighbourhood in December 2016.

The concept grew out of Martin’s interests in both hospitality and nutrition.

After two years of research, recipe development, focus groups and planning, she opened what she describes as a “healthy coffee shop” built around nourishing food and community.

Nutbar has since expanded to multiple Toronto locations.

Its menu focuses on smoothies, coffee, snacks and meals built around whole-food ingredients.

The business is a useful example of how a focused Toronto concept can grow into a multi-location brand without losing the identity that made the first location distinctive.

Destination Toronto’s 2026 women-owned-business guide also identifies Nutbar as part of Toronto’s wellness-business landscape.

Discover Toronto restaurants and food businesses →

8. Pure + Simple

Pure + Simple has been part of Toronto’s skincare and wellness landscape for more than two decades.

The company was created by mother-daughter founders Jean Eng and Kristen Ma.

Their approach combined natural skincare, esthetics and wellness concepts at a time when those ideas were much less mainstream than they are today.

Pure + Simple has since grown into a multi-location spa business with its own skincare products.

Kristen Ma has also written extensively about the company’s approach to skincare and holistic beauty.

Destination Toronto’s current guide identifies Pure + Simple among Toronto’s women-owned wellness businesses and notes its long operating history in the city.

Longevity is part of what makes the company interesting.

Many businesses launch.

Far fewer build a recognizable local brand that remains active for decades.

Browse Toronto beauty and personal-care businesses →

9. TYPE Books

Toronto still has room for independent bookstores, and TYPE Books has built a strong presence across several neighbourhoods.

Co-owners Joanne Saul and Samara Walbohm met while pursuing doctoral studies in literature at the University of Toronto.

Their shared interest in books, literary culture and community eventually became TYPE.

The business now operates three Toronto bookstores:

  • Queen Street West
  • the Junction
  • Forest Hill

TYPE describes itself as proudly independent and combines carefully selected books with gifts, literary events and community programming.

That means the stores function as more than places to purchase books.

They also serve as gathering spaces for Toronto’s literary community.

Browse Toronto shopping and retail businesses →

10. Grey Gardens

Kensington Market’s Grey Gardens is one of the Toronto restaurants associated with restaurateur Jen Agg.

Destination Toronto includes Grey Gardens in its current women-owned-business coverage and highlights Agg’s role in shaping Toronto’s hospitality scene.

The restaurant has also received recognition from the MICHELIN Guide.

Agg’s influence extends beyond individual restaurants.

She has been a prominent voice in Canadian hospitality discussions around workplace culture, sexism and how restaurant environments are managed.

Grey Gardens therefore represents another form of women entrepreneurship in Toronto: an established hospitality operator whose influence reaches beyond the individual dining room.

Discover Toronto restaurants and food businesses →

Why Discovering Independent Toronto Businesses Matters

Supporting local does not require buying everything from an independent company.

It can be much simpler.

You might:

  • try a local restaurant
  • book an independent service provider
  • buy a gift from a Toronto retailer
  • attend a local event
  • stay at an independent hotel
  • visit a neighbourhood bookstore
  • discover a business you had never heard of before

Those decisions can support entrepreneurs, workers and commercial neighbourhoods across Toronto.

This list also shows that there is no single model for women entrepreneurship.

The businesses and organizations above span:

  • sports and community
  • chocolate
  • wine and hospitality
  • jewellery
  • fashion
  • accommodation
  • wellness food
  • skincare
  • books
  • restaurants

They operate at very different scales and serve very different customers.

Discover More Independent Businesses Across Toronto

The businesses in this article represent only a small sample of Toronto’s independent-business ecosystem.

You can explore additional businesses through the AD18 Business Directory:

You may also want to read:

How to Buy Canadian in Toronto in 2026 →

Run a business in Canada? Add your business free to the AD18 Business Directory.

Sources & Verification

This article was reviewed on September 21, 2026.

Ownership, founder and current-business information was checked against:

Business ownership, founders, locations and operations can change.

Editorial transparency: No business paid for inclusion. Inclusion is editorial and does not constitute an AD18 endorsement or ranking.

Keep exploring AD18 Local

Continue with related Local stories, or move from research to real Toronto business profiles in the AD18 Directory.

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