Mr. & Mrs. McPhedrain

The Mary Maxim Story

No company had its finger more firmly in place on the pulse of the Canadian knitter in the 1950s than Mary Maxim.

Our founders, Willard S. McPhedrain, a railway station agent, and his wife Olive, lived in Sifton Manitoba. Willard had an energetic and entrepreneurial mind that was never satisfied with doing just one job at a time. He and his wife also had a woolen mill business called Sifton Wool Products Ltd. Its' major items were woolen blankets and knitted woolen work socks. During one of his trips to department stores to sell his products, Willard was struck with the idea of the potential in the hand knitting market. His enquiring mind realized the potential and saw a business opportunity. His designers took their inspiration from the motifs of the Cowichan Indians of the west coast. This was the beginning of Mary Maxim's famous "graph style pattern." The first pattern was #400; the Reindeer. Mary Maxim still sells this sweater kit to this day.

The name Sifton Products didn’t quite portray the correct identity that Willard wanted his newly developing company to have. So, he renamed it Mary Maxim. One of the family’s employees’ name was Mary Maximchuck, which was shortened to Mary Maxim. Willard marketed the company as if it were “Mary” who personally dealt with all details. This was a stoke of genius. Mary Maxim quickly became a household name. All who knit knew Mary Maxim.

The demand for yarn and patterns grew so quickly that it might have overwhelmed a less determined businessman, but Willard never faltered. He moved his company to Paris in 1954 to be closer to the larger Ontario market and his fibre supplier, Spinrite Yarns in Listowel. Mary Maxim's first home in town was the "old town hall". From there we had a couple of other homes, but completed our journey at 75 Scott Ave, where we are today. Willard and Olive resided in Paris for the rest of their lives. They are both missed by employees and town people who knew them. Their Grandson Rusty is now the companies’ owner. Rusty and his family reside in Port Huron, Michigan. Today we mail over 3 million catalogues to the homes of our Canadian customers.

In September of 2006 we opened a second location. There is now a Mary Maxim store in Toronto at the Yonge Eglinton Centre, 2300 Yonge Street.

We are pleased to continue to offer you exclusive designs. Our designing has grown to include fashions as well as afghans and latch hooked rugs and wall hangings. We also have the largest needlework kit selection you will find.