Toronto has no shortage of things to do. What it has less of is places to slow down, to wander without a destination, talk to the person who made what you are looking at, and leave feeling like you discovered something. One Of A Kind has been that place since 1975, and this April it returns to the Enercare Centre with over 500 Canadian artisans and its largest Spring Market since the pandemic, running April 9–12 at Exhibition Place.
“One Of A Kind has always been about more than transactions. It is about connection,” says Show Director Janice Leung. “The Spring Market captures the optimism and energy of the season. With over 500 Canadian artisans coming together, this year’s show celebrates creativity in all its forms while giving visitors the opportunity to slow down, explore, and truly engage with the makers shaping Canada’s creative landscape.”
That connection plays out differently for everyone who walks through the doors, but for the people who have spent years building the show, it is something they have watched accumulate slowly, visit by visit, season by season.
Valérie Roy, Director of Sales at One Of A Kind, has been with the organization for over a decade. She has seen every version of this show: the lineups before doors open, the first-timers who don’t know where to start, the visitors who have been coming long enough to know which booth to find first. Ask her what defines it and she doesn’t reach for a number or a section name.
“It is a real tradition. We hear stories of families coming year after year, knowing artisans by name, bringing them lunch, little treats,” she says. “The relationship between our visitors and our exhibitors is unlike anything else in retail.”
One Of A Kind receives hundreds of applications each year. The team also travels to shows, studios, and markets across the country, actively sourcing makers rather than waiting to be found. Roy describes how they decide who gets on the floor.
“We ask ourselves: if this piece were dropped on the floor, would we know immediately who made it?” she says. “That is what we look for, a maker who fully understands their vision and their voice, and whose work embodies exactly who they are.”
The 2026 Spring Market begins before you even reach the show floor. The Wish Garden greets visitors at the entrance, violinists playing, a space to pause and plant an intention for yourself or someone you care about. It sets the tone for what follows.
This year’s edition introduces a Garden Section filled with plant-inspired goods and florals, a Farmers Market Pop-Up spotlighting small-batch food makers and seasonal ingredients, and a Zero-Proof Beverage Section alongside an expanded Flavours experience highlighting Canadian food artisans. Returning sections include Rising Stars for makers with under five years of professional experience, and the Marketplace Powered by Interac, welcoming a new group of first-time Spring exhibitors.
Roy has spent more than a decade thinking about what it takes to make that experience feel the way it does.
“The Spring Market is a vibrant, creative space to come together, to hear makers and creators from across the country share their stories and the products they’ve crafted with real care and intention,” she says. “That environment doesn’t happen by accident. We make it very intentional.”
For the artisans behind those booths, showing up to One Of A Kind is a marathon. Many run their space solo for four straight days. The show provides resources on booth planning, lighting, signage, and marketing, along with guidance from veteran exhibitors who have done it before. There is also a massage therapist on site. Roy’s ask of every vendor who comes through is consistent.
“My wish for every artisan who joins us is simple, please take advantage of everything the show offers, not just the four days on the floor,” she says. “The resources, the education, the community. That is where the real investment pays off.”
The way visitors arrive at the show has changed. Makers who once had two opportunities a year to connect with their audience now build followings year-round, and those followings carry onto the show floor in ways that were not possible a decade ago.
“We are seeing makers, ceramicists especially, do online drops to build anticipation, and then bring an exclusive line to the show floor that you cannot get anywhere else,” Roy says. “By the time a customer walks in, they have already been following that maker for months. They know the story, they know the craft, and they know exactly where they are going.”
Online built the relationship. But it did not replace the reason people come. Something has shifted in how Roy describes the people walking through the doors, and it goes deeper than pent-up demand or habit.
“There is a genuine craving right now to return to face-to-face, to shop, to experience, to connect in person,” she says. “We are providing exactly that, more than ever, with a curated marketplace that truly delivers on that experience.”
The broader retail industry has spent years and considerable resources trying to solve for what One Of A Kind has offered since 1975, a direct line between the person who made something and the person who wants it. Brands have poured money into direct-to-consumer strategies, personalization engines, and community-building platforms trying to manufacture the kind of relationship that happens naturally on this show floor. The show’s continued growth, at a moment when foot traffic is hard-won and consumer attention is fragmented, is not a coincidence.
Consumer behaviour is moving toward the personal, the considered, and the meaningful. Shoppers are increasingly resistant to the disposable, the mass-produced, and the anonymous. One Of A Kind sits at the intersection of all of those shifts, and has for five decades. For any retailer or operator trying to understand where the customer is going, Roy’s read on it is worth sitting with.
“What customers want right now is something personal, something made with them in mind,” she says. “At One Of A Kind, you are not navigating a company. You are speaking directly to the person who made what is in front of you. We have been doing that for 50 years, and honestly, it has never been more relevant.”
The world outside the Enercare Centre this April is not a particularly easy one. Economically, politically, socially, there is a low hum of tension that has become part of daily life. Four days in the spring will not change that. But Roy, who has watched people walk into this show and walk out differently for more than a decade, puts it in terms that are hard to argue with.
“There isn’t anything like this available in Toronto, where you can get this all-encompassing, positive, energizing, and grounding experience all at once,” she says. “It’s not just a change of season. For many people, it’s a season of their life.”
The 2026 One Of A Kind Spring Market runs April 9–12 at the Enercare Centre, 100 Princes’ Blvd, Exhibition Place. Thursday hours extend until 11 p.m. for the Late Night Shopping Party. Adult tickets start at $22 online; children 12 and under are free. Full details and tickets at oneofakindshow.com.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, The Canadian Opera Company, Starbucks Canada and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.