Looking for the perfect shower, wedding or “just because” present? Then step into Ko’s Gift Shop for the very best in fine china and crystal, jewellery and hostess gifts. And while you’re browsing, you may just want to start up a conversation with owner Raymond Ko, perhaps the Shops at Don Mills’ greatest authority on the immediate neighbourhood.
Mr. Ko has been in the giftware business for over 50 years. His father, Ko Wing Kan, opened the first Ko’s Gift Shop back in 1935 at the corner of Yonge St. and Gerrard St. in downtown Toronto. Back then, the store carried fine porcelain, wood carvings, silks and linens imported from China and young Raymond and his siblings spent their after-school hours stocking the shelves and minding the cash register. The store was so successful that Dad opened a second store in 1951 in Leaside’s Sunnybrook Plaza, a short walk from the Ko family home.
Then it was Raymond’s turn. By then he was a proud resident of Don Mills – and good friends with Douglas Lee, one of the original architects who developed the area as Canada’s first master planned community – so it was only natural to set up the third Ko’s Gift Shop in the neighbourhood. The store specialized in giftware and china, with a wedding registry helping customers figure out what to purchase for finicky brides and grooms.
“It was 1958 and the open-air Don Mills Centre had opened a few years beforehand,” recalls Raymond, who still lives in the area. “It was a young community with great possibilities so I thought it would be an ideal location for a giftware store.”
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Since then, Ko’s has maintained its distinctiveness despite the various incarnations of the Don Mills Centre. The store continued to prosper when a roof capped the open-air mall in 1978. In 2006, Ko’s moved to a temporary location on The Donway as Cadillac Fairview began construction of the new Shops at Don Mills. Now Raymond and his son, Gary, are enjoying their brand new location on Marie Labatte Rd., where happy customers stroll out with gift-wrapped packages of Waterford crystal, Botanic Garden china, and Swarovski jewellery and crystal. A second son, Lindsay, runs a Ko’s in Markville Shopping Centre in Markham.
“It’s so exciting to be back in an open-air setting because it reminds me of where I started,” says Raymond. “Shops at Don Mills is very pleasant and comfortable and our customers tell us they really love the concept. We look forward to welcoming the community to our new location.”