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A beloved local business owner whose beauty and records store helped give rise to Toronto’s Little Jamaica community, has died. Monica Lewis, better known as “Miss Monica,” was 86.
“Monica leaves behind a large family: those who share her blood, and the many more who became family through the kindness of her soul over the years,” the Little Jamaica Business Improvement Area said in a post on Instagram.
Her store was one of the “only beauty supply destinations of its kind in the city,” it added.
Junior Lewis, her son, described her as a “kind and beautiful person.”
“She was the cool girl in the neighbourhood,” he said outside the store’s showcase windows, where mannequins adorned in bejeweled mas costumes and headpieces stood on display.
Monica and her husband George came to Toronto in the late 1960s, buying property in the Eglinton West area, which they opened as record store, according to Heritage Toronto. It later turned into Monica’s Beauty Supply Ltd., a beauty and cosmetics store that also sold the occasional record. Monica’s husband is credited with producing Canada’s first hip-hop record during that time, according to Canada Black Music Archives.
“She came over here with her hairdressing skills and said ‘all these beautiful girls need to be fixed up,’ and she knew how to do it,” he said.
“Her and my dad became Batman and Robin doing hairdressing and records.”
Monica moved to Toronto in the 1970s from England. When she came, her husband, George, was running the record shop that would later turn into Monica’s Beauty Supply Ltd. (Submitted by Lewis family)Store impacted by Eglinton LRT construction
Monica’s grew into a hub for Toronto’s Jamaican community, drawing in women from all over Southern Ontario because it was one of the few Black hair stores around at the time, according to Heritage Toronto.
“Her hands were wide open as soon as you walked through that door, with a smile,” said her son.
But like many others in the Little Jamaica community, was impacted by the construction of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, her son said. Then, during the pandemic, it closed, according to Heritage Toronto. The family still owns the building.
Earlier this year, the Little Jamaica BIA reported that over 300 businesses had shuttered during the 16-year construction of the transit system.
“I always looked at my mom as superwoman, because I wonder how she kept all these things together and how she kept the family together,” he said.
“During that time, things got slow,” he said of the LRT construction closures. His parents would just come to the store to “see their friends … they weren’t making no money, because there was nobody coming in here.”
Monica and her husband, George. Their son, Junior Lewis, said they were like ‘Batman and Robin, doing hairdressing and records’ at their Little Jamaica store. (Submitted by Lewis family)Lewis revered in community: BIA
Jason McDonald, chair of the Little Jamaica BIA and owner of Casual Beauty Salon, across the street from Monica’s, called her a “driven woman” who created the “blueprint” for other Little Jamaica businesses to follow.
McDonald said that over his years of knowing her, Lewis would always encourage him and the “young guys in the area,” mentoring us and keeping “us out of trouble.”
“We’re very proud of Miss Monica and all of her accomplishments. She is a woman that we revere within the Little Jamaica community,” he said.
“What she’s done as a business woman, to come from Jamaica, to come to Canada and to kick down barriers … Miss Monica is a woman that we should be reading about.”
“She should be read about in books.”