Well.ca

When we think of local businesses, or any business for that matter, our brains automatically seem to jump to parking lots and line ups and mass crowds clawing over that final sale item on the shelf. No truer does this stand than during this, the most festive and joyous shopping season of the year. Of course, there's a touch of tongue in cheek with that statement, because, I don't know about you, but I find the Christmas season to be a time when fellow shoppers are at their most cut-throat, have the least amount of patience and can sometimes be down right rude to each other. Fortunately for us, however, a new wave of shopping and gift giving has entered our lives; and while some online companies have been around for a number of years and are branded into our vocabulary, the business of Internet shopping continues to grow at a fast and steady pace.

There are new companies constantly opening up all over the Internet, a lot of which gain singular success within a very specific market, while others, for whatever reason, just don't last long enough for us to hear about them. But then there are those that do; there are businesses that gain momentum and grow by word of mouth, a good business model, and by giving us something that we desperately demand and strive for; one such company sits in our own backyard.

Well.ca got its start in 2007 as the brain child of University of Waterloo graduate Ali Asaria who saw and acknowledged the demand for an online store specializing in health and beauty products. As most businesses tend to do, his started out small, in cramped quarters and with limited resources. However, with proper ideals and a positive goal in mind, he successfully grew his "little" business into what it is today, offering thousands of products and catering them to North Americans with an unmatched level of service; and thanks to his persistence, research, know-how and dedication to family service, that apartment-based business now operates on a much greater platform, still in its home community of Guelph, Ontario.

Taking a look at this company and its growing history, it doesn't simply spark a sense of pride for us locals to see something in our own city spanning so wide, it's also encouraging. We can look at the website for this fast-growing company and see how ideas can come to life if only we apply them with a little persistence and hard work. It also shows us how a change in our day to day patterns can be an embrace; the fact that we can forgo the lineups at our nearby pharmacy is a relief, sure, but what's more is that due to its nature, Well.ca is able to service those individuals who perhaps don't have the drugstore down the street, or even still, the folks that maybe don't have the physical abilities to get out whenever they feel and just grab those things many of us take for a convenience.

While there are lists to make about the pros of Well, what really sets it apart from any other company you could name in similarity, is that while it has grown exponentially, it doesn't seem to have lost its personality along the way. There is a personalization here that doesn't come with any other online store that I can think of, and the care that seems to go into growing a family rather than a clientele, stands unique for any business of its size. Be it through email, facebook, their website or customer care line, their individualized level of service seems to be setting the bar pretty high for competitors; a quick browse through their reviews and feedback will tell you why.

It seems no coincidence or haphazard circumstance that a company of any stature would win so many national awards and notoriety; it is unfortunate that so many of us still don't know this entrepreneur is out there. So, while I regularly encourage you to get out and hit the town to help grow our community awareness, on this occasion I will ask you to do the same by acting just the opposite. Stop by their website and explore their pages, delve into their history and become a part of the culture they are creating with a new shopping experience. The World Wide Web is obviously a global device, with millions of shopping and browsing opportunities so readily available to us, it's particularly nice to see that Guelph has a home there too.

-Phil

http://www.well.ca/

http://www.facebook.com/wellca