The household of Monica Lewis, the beloved entrepreneur and matriarch whose enterprise helped form Toronto’s Little Jamaica, publicizes her passing with profound unhappiness and deep gratitude for a life exceptionally nicely lived.
Born in Jamaica, Monica Lewis was given a uncommon alternative as a younger girl—one afforded to solely a single member of her household—to go away residence for England in pursuit of a brighter future. Carrying the hopes of her household together with her, she ultimately settled in Canada, the place she would go on to go away an everlasting mark on Toronto’s Caribbean neighborhood.
Within the late Sixties, Monica and her husband George bought a property at 1553 Eglinton Avenue West and commenced a lifetime of service to the Caribbean neighborhood in Toronto and all through Southern Ontario. Having migrated from England as expert staff with a British training, the couple established a enterprise that might turn into a cornerstone of the neighbourhood.
Initially, Monica’s operated as a document retailer, promoting vinyl data, document gamers, CDs, posters, and electronics. The store rapidly grew to become a gathering place for music lovers and collectors, identified for carrying sounds and artists widespread in each the Caribbean and the UK. For a lot of residents, it was greater than a retailer—it was a cultural hub.
By the Nineteen Eighties, the enterprise developed into Monica’s Magnificence Provide, a magnificence and cosmetics retailer and salon that continued to promote the occasional document. As one of many few Black-owned magnificence provide shops serving Toronto’s rising Black inhabitants, Monica’s grew to become a vacation spot for patrons from throughout Southern Ontario. Ladies and men travelled from close to and much to buy merchandise that have been typically unavailable elsewhere, serving to set up the shop as Little Jamaica’s longest-standing magnificence and hair care retailer.
Though the enterprise ultimately closed amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the financial pressures attributable to years of disruptive building alongside Eglinton Avenue West, Monica’s stays a cherished reminiscence for numerous residents and guests. Many fondly recall stopping in for a document, a magnificence product, or just a dialog with “Miss Monica,” as she was affectionately identified.
But those that knew Monica finest will bear in mind her not just for what she constructed, however for a way she handled individuals.
A girl of deep religion and unwavering compassion, Monica welcomed everybody with heat and dignity—whether or not it was somebody looking for shelter from the chilly, a younger household in want of steerage, or a famend musician who had travelled internationally to go to her store. Her contributions to Toronto and its cultural panorama have been acknowledged by each the Metropolis of Toronto and the Mayor.
Monica Lewis leaves behind a big and loving household—these related to her by blood, and the various others who grew to become household by means of her generosity, kindness, and unwavering spirit. Her legacy lives on in the neighborhood she helped nurture, the lives she touched, and the neighbourhood she helped outline.
There’ll by no means be one other Monica Lewis, and he or she will likely be missed past measure.
A funeral service celebrating Monica’s life will likely be held on Saturday, June 13, 2026, at Revivaltime Tabernacle, 4340 Dufferin Road, Toronto. Doorways will open at 10:00 a.m., with the service starting at 11:00 a.m. Household, associates, and all whose lives have been touched by Monica are warmly invited to attend. The service may also be livestreamed.
