Established in 1957
Gordon Anstey starts Treasure Mart, beginning with a small office in downtown Vancouver.
In the craft industry since the beginning
For a while the business was run out of the basement of the family house in Kitsilano, where in the 1970s a teenage Ken Anstey waited anxiously to be finished work so he could hit the beach.
Bob, Bruce and Ken Anstey took the helm of the company in the '80s, operating out of a warehouse on SW Marine Drive. In 1993, Ken and his wife Sylvia Anstey took full ownership and have been running the business ever since.
Growth Era
New family members joined over the years
A changing cast of friends, nieces, and nephews came and went over the years, with Ken and Sylvia's son, Ryan, starting part-time while still in high school in the early 2000's. Their daughter, Stephanie, finally joined in 2015.
Shift to Scrapbooking
Home die-cutting was introduced by Sizzix in 2001, and quickly became a success. Treasure Mart soon moved from general craft supplies to almost exclusively die-cutting and cardstock. From there transitioning into the scrapbook industry was pretty seamless. One by one, relationships were made with many of the amazing brands we still work with today.
Technology Era
Technology becomes a focus
In the summer of 2014, Ryan Anstey developed the beginnings of our custom software in use today. Now it's a part of everything we do and we couldn't get by without it.
Expanded
into fine art,our warehouse,our team
In the last few years, we've seen a lot of growth. We've welcomed some smart, hardworking, fun people to our amazing team who truly help us, for a small company, punch above our weight. In 2021, we began expanding into the realm of fine art supplies, and by 2022 we outgrew our warehouse but were fortunate to be able to acquire more than double our space.
What's next
We'll keep adding new brands from around the world as we steadily grow our share of the fine art supply, scrapbooking, and gift market in Canada. We're looking forward to hopefully serving Canadian businesses for many more years to come.