"The target (market) of 50- to 65-year-olds are folks who do not want to be perceived as getting older," [Steven Mahon] says. "In fact that's the last thing they want, they're hypersensitive to it."

For the home, there's Oxo's upmarket and easy-to-use "Good Grips" kitchen appliances at the Bay and Home Outfitters, and Moen now makes grab bars and bathing aids notable for their stylish design.

"Canada's boomers have little interest in spending their latter decades passively succumbing to declining vitality, looks or health," Reginald Bibby, a sociology professor at the University of Lethbridge and author of The Boomer Factor, wrote in an e-mail. "The emergence of Viagra was just the beginning of the boomers' 'latter years' fireworks display."