About the company

Maria José Barros was born in the little village of Lomba da Maia, in the island of São Miguel, on August 22, 1921.  When she was 24 years old, she married António Barros, a native of the city of Braga in mainland Portugal.  At the time, António was serving in the Portuguese Naval Aviation. His work responsibilities take the young couple, first to the island of Santa Maria, also in the Azores, and then to Lisbon where Maria José spent the next 20 years of her life. In Lisbon, she spent most of her time doing housework and raising her children. 

In 1965, António decided to emigrate to Canada. Similar to others, he was in search of a more prosperous future.  With him come the couple’s two older sons. The two youngest ones staying behind with their mother. Thanks to Canada’s welcoming policy to new immigrants in the later part of the 60s, Maria José and her two young sons were able to join António in 1968 who was already well integrated in Toronto’s Portuguese community. 

The following two years were filled with very hard and intense work. When reminiscing about her first years as an immigrant woman in Canada, Maria José tells us that, despite the hard work, the purchasing power the Canadian dollar helped them work on their “nest-egg”, as it was proverbial known. 

During these years, António decided to put to use the herbal course he had taken in Lisbon and acquires the building on 1227 Dundas Street West in Toronto. It is here that he founded the first ever Portuguese Herbal pharmacy in Toronto. It was a risky undertaking as it was created for the Portuguese community, less numerous back in the day. Generally speaking, the Portuguese community then was not as aware of alternative medicine and natural therapies as it is today.  However, Maria José and António Barros took on the challenge and their establishment created roots and gradually became a reference in the shopping habits of the Portuguese community.