The Saint-Laurent shopping plaza where Mimimelon was destroyed Wednesday morning has a history that Montreal police know all too well. Two kosher businesses in the same complex were targeted by arsonists just fifteen days apart in 2021. Another restaurant had previously burned down and was rebuilt under a different name. Earlier this year, swastikas were spray-painted across the windows of a kosher pizza parlour and neighbouring businesses. Now, after two deliberate fires in barely 25 hours, Mimimelon has been reduced to ruins.
For years, the commercial complex on Saint-Louis Street in Ville Saint-Laurent has been a familiar destination for Montreal’s Jewish community, housing kosher bakeries, restaurants, a butcher shop and other businesses. But behind those storefronts is a troubling history of fires, attempted arsons and vandalism that has repeatedly brought Montreal police to the same handful of addresses.
The latest incident occurred early Wednesday, November 4, when flames tore through Mimimelon at 2069 Saint-Louis Street. Approximately 60 firefighters responded to the blaze, spending two hours bringing it under control. By morning, the bakery was destroyed, neighbouring businesses had been affected, and the owners were facing the loss of their livelihood.
It was the second time the business had been targeted in just over a day.
Late Monday night, November 2, an individual approached the bakery’s rear entrance, attempted to gain entry and threw a liquid against the building before igniting it and fleeing. According to co-owner Jennie Volfson, the incident was captured on surveillance cameras. Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames before they spread through the establishment.
Approximately 25 hours later, someone set another fire. This time, the bakery wasn’t so fortunate.
Montreal police confirmed that evidence recovered at the scene indicated deliberate ignition. The arson squad and hate-crimes unit are investigating the incidents, although no arrests have been announced and investigators have not publicly established a motive.
What has received considerably less attention is that this is hardly the first time someone has attempted to burn down a kosher business in that shopping plaza.
On June 13, 2021, Chez Benny Express, then operating at 2159 Saint-Louis Street, was attacked when unknown individuals smashed the restaurant’s glass entrance with a rock and attempted to start a fire. According to B’nai Brith Canada, the flames failed to spread because there was insufficient combustible material. Nothing was stolen, and two neighbouring restaurants that did not serve kosher food were left untouched.
Just fifteen days later, on June 28, Montreal police returned to the same shopping plaza. This time, the target was Montreal Kosher Bakery at 2135 Saint-Louis Street, just a few doors away.
Police responded at approximately 1:45 a.m. after an alarm was triggered. A window had been smashed, and firefighters discovered what appeared to be an incendiary device inside the premises. The investigation was transferred to the Montreal police arson squad.
The similarities were not lost on investigators. Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant acknowledged at the time that another business just a couple of doors away had suffered similar damage two weeks earlier.
The incidents attracted national and international attention, with questions raised about why two kosher businesses in the same shopping plaza had been attacked within such a short period. B’nai Brith Canada documented both incidents in its annual audit, specifically identifying the establishments as operating in the same strip mall.
The June 28 incident was reported by the Journal de Montréal, while the Jerusalem Post examined both attacks.
But the history of fires in the complex goes back even further. Pizza Pita, which previously operated at 2145 Saint-Louis Street, also burned down years earlier. The restaurant was subsequently rebuilt and reopened under the name Famous Pizza.
More recently, the shopping plaza was the scene of another attack, one in which the message left behind was unmistakable.
On March 4, 2026, swastikas were discovered spray-painted across the windows of Gourmetti Pizza, a kosher restaurant at 2075 Saint-Louis Street, immediately next to Mimimelon. A neighbouring pharmacy and kosher butcher shop were also targeted.
As Montreal Jewish News reported at the time, the vandalism occurred overnight, leaving Nazi symbols displayed across businesses serving the Jewish community.
Montreal police described the graffiti as hate-related and referred the investigation to their hate-crimes unit. Surveillance footage reportedly captured an individual dressed in black spray-painting the storefronts during the early morning hours.
The vandalism occurred just eight months before someone set fire to Mimimelon, only a few doors away.
There is another development that could prove particularly important to the current investigation.
In an interview with CTV News following Wednesday’s fire, Mimimelon co-owner Jennie Volfson revealed that someone entered the bakery in September, with their face covered, and shouted “All the Jews will burn” before fleeing.
Volfson said she did not report the incident to police at the time, and the encounter was not captured by the bakery’s surveillance cameras. She subsequently disclosed the threat to investigators following Wednesday’s blaze.
The threat came weeks before the October 24 Journal de Montréal investigation that exposed Mimimelon’s lengthy history of food-safety violations. As MJN reported Wednesday, that exposé appeared nine days before the first attempted arson, followed barely 25 hours later by the fire that destroyed the establishment.
Police have not identified those responsible for the fires or established whether the attacks were connected to the September threat, the newspaper investigation or another motive. They have also announced no connection between the Mimimelon fires and the earlier incidents in the complex.
For the owners, the consequences are immediate and devastating. Volfson told CTV that the business employed 22 people and that the destruction had placed the family’s livelihood in jeopardy.
In a bilingual statement released Wednesday, the owners confirmed the complete loss of their establishment and acknowledged that neighbouring businesses had also been affected. They apologized to customers whose outstanding orders could no longer be fulfilled and announced that limited quantities of challah and pastries would continue to be available through Boucherie Amsellem.
The owners offered no explanation for the fires, citing the ongoing police investigation.
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