Aris Alexanian 

Alexanian's was founded by Aris Alexanian in Hamilton, Ontario. After working as a teacher for orphaned Armenian children in Georgetown, Ontario he used his connections in the carpet business to open his first store on King Street, Hamilton specializing in imported hand knotted Oriental rugs from around the world. Eventually, Aris did his own carpet buying and traveled to the Middle East and India extensively. Aris built a reputation for great service. It was one of his mantras. During World War II, quality oriental carpets were difficult to obtain, and he was forced to sell lower quality rugs. After the war, he offered to replace these carpets with ones of better quality. In 1946, Aris started a cleaning company servicing the products Alexanian's sold.