By Sigrid Tornquist

For Carole Bellon of Bellon Industries in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, expanding product lines begins with recognizing a need, developing a product to fill that need and then creating demand. “When smoking bans inside buildings came into effect in Montreal in 2006, suddenly people had to go outside to smoke,” Bellon says. “So we went to work to create something to offer shelter to smokers.”

Bellon’s company developed a vented shelter that was fire retardant and was complete with ash trays and heaters. The company then worked on demand. “Smokers would be cold, they would be wet, and they could get sick. It’s too hot. It’s too cold—whatever,” she says. “We basically created a demand.”

Sigrid Tornquist is a freelance author and editor based in St. Paul, Minn. She is also the associate editor of InTents magazine.