A new hair and beauty salon is set to open on Harrogate’s Montpellier Street next month.
Allertons, which currently has two salons in Leeds and one in Nottingham, will take over the space previously occupied by Lifestyle Lounge.
Founder Nicholas Nicola said he’d lived in north Leeds all his life and always hoped to open a salon in Harrogate because he believed his brand would be well suited to the town.
Mr Nicola said Allertons hoped to bring something “new and fresh” to Harrogate and plans to start welcoming clients by February 22.
The left shows how the shop will look once the re-fit is complete.
The quick conversion of the premises aims to encourage Lifestyle Lounge customers to move their appointments to Allertons.
Mr Nicola said he has invested about £100,000 in the re-fit. The studio will open just one of its three floors at first with four members of staff.
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He added the other two floors will open in the months ahead and the team will grow to 16 staff offering hair and beauty treatments. He said job opportunities were still available:
Ripon hairdressers prepare for the long road back“We think it will be well received. We aren’t led by fashion but what the clients want from root tints to bright blue. Harrogate already has so many lovely salons and hopefully we can bring something different.”
A long road back from lockdown and lost trade lies ahead for Ripon hairdressers Deborah Chalmers and Sharon Bielby.
The friends own and run hair and beauty businesses less than 100 yards apart on North Street, Ripon.
Deborah’s Love Hair & Beauty Boutique depends heavily on the wedding market.
Sharon, whose shop bears her name, is a barber who cuts men’s and boys’ hair.
For both, the priority following the stop-start year of 2020 and the closed-down first quarter of 2021, has been to keep their heads above water.
Now they are buoyant at the prospect of reopening in six weeks time on 12 April and finally earning some money again.
Their loyal and now long-haired customers have kept in touch and they are looking forward to a busy post-lockdown period.
Deborah, who ensures brides and their bridesmaids look beautiful for the big day, told the Stray Ferret:
“It has been a very difficult time.
“The shop was shut for long periods and just about every wedding booking I had for last summer was cancelled because of the pandemic.”
She used a government small business grant to pay for overheads while living off the crumbs that came from the dramatically scaled-down wedding table.
Sharon Bielby reflects on a difficult year, as she gets ready for the many customers in desperate need of a hair cut.
The same applies for Sharon, who said:
“It has been a case of surviving on the barest minimum, while staying positive and thinking about the many customers who just can’t wait to get their hair cut again.”
Her shop will have an appointment-only policy in place from reopening day. She joked:
“I will probably have to allow extra time for each customer, because they will have a lot more hair to cut!”
Deborah, who has created her own brand of lip balm as a reopening thank-you gift for her customers, is looking forward to a very busy summer.
She said:
“From mid-June, the government is easing the restrictions on the size of gatherings and that’s good news.
“Couples who postponed their plans, still want to get married and share their celebration with family and friends.”
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An additional factor gives Deborah hope that she can make up for some of the lost business she has experienced over the last year.
She said:
“With Saturdays like gold-dust in the wedding calendar, people are now arranging their weddings for other days of the week.
“That means I will be handling hair and beauty for up to four events a week, compared with a maximum of two Saturday weddings a week in a normal year.”