Working together for health and beauty
Three new businesses in Amherst operating side-by-side-by-side
Three new businesses are operating together under the same roof in downtown Amherst to provide a one-stop shop for many of your beauty and health-care needs.
Linda Matthews-Mont, Jennifer Girouard and DeeJay Baker each started operating their own business at 111 East Victoria in April.
Matthews-Mont provides nursing foot care, Girouard hairstyling and Baker offers massage therapy.
While the businesses are separate, the three women are operating under the same motto: “Where Health and Beauty Unite.”
Matthews-Mont, a licensed practical nurse and foot care nurse, discovered the new location earlier this year and jumped on the opportunity to deliver her foot care services there.
As part of this endeavour, however, she also approached Girouard and Baker about renting space.
“I looked at it as a way to join health care and beauty, to unite the two, with all three of our services,” Matthews- Mont told The Cumberland Wire. “That’s kind of how it all started.”
They agreed and in April, they started operating each of their own businesses at the location.
Matthews-Mont runs DownHome Foot Care & Health Services, Girouard runs Rejuvic Hair Lounge, and Baker runs Dee’s T&R Massage.
BACKGROUNDS
Matthews-Mont grew up in Cape Breton and attended school in St. Peters. She went into nursing in 2005 and worked in acute and long- term care settings and then in the community as a continuing care and VON nurse.
Within the community, nursing foot care was one of the needs she helped with.
She continued to pursue that line of work.
In 2015, Matthews-Mont completed a post-graduate Basic, Advanced and Diabetic Foot Care Certificate and began her own business, DownHome Foot Care & Health Services, where she provided service to clients from Antigonish, where she lived at the time, to Cape Breton.
In 2018, her family relocated to her husband’s hometown of Amherst, where she worked in acute and long- term care as a licensed practical nurse. Matthews-Mont also worked as a facility foot care nurse at another long- term care location.
“Amherst is a really beautiful town to live and work in,” she commented.
When everything shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized there were a lot of people who could continue to benefit from her service.
“It was a no-brainer to provide the service in my own hometown on a small scale, where people could come to me and the service would be provided in their own town,” said Matthews-Mont.
Girouard grew up in Amherst where she attended school. After graduation, she worked as a pharmacy technician for 15 years.
In 2016, she returned to school to obtain a certification in professional hairstyling at the L’Institute Jon Raymond in Moncton, N.B.
She subsequently began her new career at a salon in Sackville, N.B., where she worked for two years before taking a new position at a salon in her hometown of Amherst.
She worked there for another two years.
Having seen the downtown pick up a bit, Girouard felt it didn’t take much thought when given the opportunity to open her own business in the area.
Baker grew up in Springhill where she attended school and graduated in 2009. She took massage therapy at Eastern College in Moncton in 2018.
She gained experience in the field and discovered she loved working with people on a therapeutic and relaxation level.
Baker had always felt she wanted a business to call her own and work for herself and when Matthews-Mont suggested that possibility, she too jumped at the opportunity.
SERVICES
DownHome Foot Care and Health Services provides basic, advanced and diabetic foot care. This includes nail cutting, filing, callus and corn removal, monofilament testing, lower extremity and foot assessments, and education, with possible referrals to other health care professionals if needed.
The business is open on Tuesdays by appointment only. She takes appointments at 902-397-3338.
If the clientele exists, Matthews-Mont says she’s open to expanding her hours in the future.
The Rejuvic Hair Lounge offers haircuts, dying, hair extensions and more. It is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from noon to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Appointments can be booked by phone at 902-664- 9469 or you can send her a message on her Facebook page, Rejuvic Hair Lounge.
Dee’s T&R Massage provides professional therapeutic and relaxing massages, cupping, taping, paraffin wax massages and salt scrubs.
It is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 3:30 to 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and she also works the occasional Saturday. Hours can change depending on client needs.
Appointments can be booked by calling 902-297- 2469.