Plateau-Mont-Royal | Noise and essential oils

The story of the La Tulipe cabaret has made a lot of noise in recent days, no pun intended.

Repeated complaints from a neighbor, lawsuits, unfavorable judgments from several courts and, finally, this closure announced last Tuesday, due to a ban on emitting-a-single-decibel.

This case is far from isolated.

Several bars and performance halls have fallen into disrepair in recent years in Plateau-Mont-Royal due to rough neighborhoods. Others are still threatened.

And cohabitation problems do not only concern the decibel level, in this neighborhood which is one of the densest in Canada.

For several years, the number 1 enemy of an intersection in the Plateau has been… an organic manicure-pedicure salon.

You read that right.

Alexandra Simard, a former advertising executive, opened Primerose salon in 2018 on the commercial ground floor of a duplex on Gilford Street. An upscale and peaceful area, a few hundred meters from La Tulipe.

From the start of her business, she encountered a deluge of complaints from two neighbors.

Their grievances revolve a lot around the smell of its non-toxic varnishes and the essential oils used in its products. From a controversial dryer outlet, too.

Innocuous in appearance, but not in reality. An obstacle course, rather.

Over the years (and complaints), the young entrepreneur received visits from a variety of inspectors and technicians.

Employees of the Regional Public Health Directorate, the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST), the City of Montreal and the Plateau borough came to examine its commerce in all its aspects. A doctor was even involved. These authorities produced various reports which I was able to read.

I visited her small business last Friday, while three women were having their nails painted in a cozy atmosphere. The owner showed me and let me smell her products. Many are made at home with essential oils with grapefruit or bergamot aromas.

Nothing to hold one’s nose, let’s say.

I also saw the discord washer dryer unit. Alexandra Simard and her employees use it to wash and dry towels with an odorless organic detergent. The steam from drying comes out through a vent located at the front of the business, called a “toxic vent” by her neighbors, she tells me, half fig, half grape.

“I can’t be more “Plateau” than that,” she says. I am green, all my products are organic, without any toxic components, I take care of my waste, my customers are fun, peaceful…”

“A large part of my clientele is made up of pregnant women or women who come to get their pedicure while breastfeeding their baby,” she continues. I myself worked here for up to nine months during my two pregnancies. »

Alexandra Simard is stunned by all the hours spent undergoing inspections. All this money spent on lawyer fees, to have emails or formal notices written.

She also denounces the expenses generated for taxpayers, due to the numerous public authorities involved in her case.

Public Health, which examined its premises following a “report of a threat to health”, concluded its investigation in May 2024. It indicates in its final report that “the risk of exposure of workers to the products present in the workplace is low and is not expected to pose a health risk.”

After several visits to the site and to a neighbor, the CNESST indicates for its part that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were recorded near a common wall, but that in the living area of ​​the accommodation, “the concentrations […] were below the detection threshold.

The CNESST noted an odor of nail polish in its premises and granted an exemption to M^me Simard so that she can ventilate it better. The merchant installed fans and reduced the concentration of essential oils in her products, such as her shea butter, by 20%.

The CNESST report confirms that its products are free of 10 chemical compounds often used in aesthetics, such as dibutyl phthalate, triphenyl phosphate, xylene and formaldehyde.

The merchant’s administrative tribulations continue. She will have to change the location of an exterior ventilation nozzle on the facade, which contravenes a municipal by-law.

After five inspections and the imposition of a notice of violation related to the location of this equipment, the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough is still “evaluating with legal affairs the possibility of taking other measures » against the beauty salon, a spokesperson told me.

Alexandra Simard thought about moving several times, because of what she describes as “relentlessness”. But for now, she is determined to fight to ensure that the rights of small traders are respected, who according to her contribute to the attractiveness of the neighborhood.

What do you think of all this?

I’m a little blown away, to be honest. If a small salon that smells of eucalyptus encounters such an outcry, I can hardly imagine what many other SMEs across the city must be going through.

You have to be tough to do business in this town. Whether this rind is hydrated – or not – with organic shea butter.