We decided to move our salon from Hyde Park up to Headingley over five years ago. Taking over this unit was the best decision I’ve ever made - although it was immensely scary at the time!
Fitting out the new shop, the old Lloyd’s pharmacy, was a massive financial commitment, but we were very lucky in having great shopfitters/designers, their background was in set design so they knew how to make the shop beautiful, practical, and most importantly, they had to work to schedule. We finished in the salon at 2.30am, knowing we had clients in at 9.00am! And from that day forward the salon has gone from strength to to strength.
So why Architecthair? Because the salon is all about creativity, artistic and technical design, and listening to and presenting interesting ideas to clients. Also Vidal Sassoon had dreamt of being one!
Owning and running a salon involves having a whole load of jobs all of which I love ... maybe with the exception of book keeping! Obviously the role of hairdresser is wonderful. We have a massively varied clientele coming from north Leeds and beyond, including students, young professionals, entire families, and people aged from 2 to 82.
But ultimately it’s the Team at Architecthair that make it so special. The salon has a huge commitment to education and developing all the necessary skills. 8 out of my 10 team members have already trained or are training with the salon, and mentoring is the most rewarding role possible. Young people come to the salon straight from school, they qualify having gained world class training, experience amazing things, and develop into fabulous talented stylists. I get to see them all grow!
Our only problem is that we’re now running out of space ...
Louise Howard-Long
architecthair
52 Otley Road
Leeds LS62AL
Tel: 01132755884
www.architecthairsalon.co.uk
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