Che Bella Spa

Always a fashionista, Lucy Demma found an outlet for her creativity when she became a nail technician in Toronto. “I fell in love with the industry and took courses in esthetics,” she says. By 1990, she was working in hair salons, building up clientele doing nails, skincare and waxing — while dreaming of opening her own spa.

She had a real vision. “For too long, I was squeezed into a corner at a place where hair was so important. I wanted to flip that. My spa would feature beautiful esthetics, with hair on the side.” And that’s exactly what Che Bella Spa is: a place everyone — women, men and teens — come to get beautified, from head to toe.

You can’t miss Che Bella’s bright red door on a side street off Eglinton Avenue West, leading upstairs to a 1,600-square-foot apartment space with a homey, vintage feel. When Lucy found the space, it took three days before she could stop crying for joy.