“BUSINESS OF THE YEAR” A CUT ABOVE
When you have a passion for your business, it really shows up in the quality of work. Over the last seven years, Passions Beauty Studio in Warman has created a culture of quality customer service that every employee has bought into.
For these reasons, Passions received the Business of the Year Award at the inaugural WMBEXA Gala – a joint venture by the Warman and Martensville Chambers of Commerce – held on May 27 at the Brian King Centre in Warman.
“From the beginning, our focus has been on building a team that is focused on setting a high standard in the industry. When it comes to this business culture, we’ve stuck to our guns,” said Chelsey Kara Harder-Bloodworth, owner of Passions. “We were very surprised and extremely grateful to receive this award. We were up against some other wonderful businesses in the community.”
Passions offers customers hair, spa and wedding services, delivered by a talented team of creative stylists and barbers, master stylists, advanced master stylists and estheticians. Harder-Bloodworth said every employee is strongly educated and the company always provides professional development opportunities. She said Passions also focuses on ensuring they have the best products in stock.
“Our customers love coming here and continue to visit us on a regular basis, whether it’s for nails every couple of weeks or hair every five to six weeks,” said Harder-Bloodworth, whose company has also been nominated for two 2016 ABEX Awards. “Because of the growth in our business, I think we can confidently say that we’ve been successful in retaining and keeping clients.”
According to Jaimie Malmgren, executive director of the Warman Chamber of Commerce, the fact that Passions received this prestigious award is a testament to the strong business culture in Warman. Warman is home to nearly 300 businesses, a number that has grown steadily.
“While I was not involved in the judging process, I do know that Passions Beauty Studio has grown considerably in the seven years they have been in business,” said Malmgren. “Their customers would attest to the high level of service and commitment and I expect that shone through in their application.”
As Malmgren noted, the event was also a chance to celebrate the collaboration between two neighbouring communities. This was the first time Warman and Martensville came together for an awards event. The initial goal was to fill 100 seats, but in the end over 250 business and community leaders were brought together to celebrate success.
“Warman and Martensville business climates are obviously healthy,” said Malmgren. “Our municipal governments work hard to not only attract new businesses to our communities, but support existing businesses as well. Working together with the Martensville Chamber of Commerce for this event allowed us to shine the spotlight on some of the fantastic businesses located in our communities and celebrate their success.”
Harder-Bloodworth said she was blown away by the professionalism of the event. “It was very much a gala style. They had the tables set out and everything was very nicely decorated,” she said. “It was a very nice event to be able to network with other businesses and recognize businesses doing well in the community.”
The Warman Chamber of Commerce is now preparing for its third annual golf tournament that has been growing in popularity every year. The Chamber is also assisting the City of Warman with the Warman Open for Business Expo, an annual trade show, in October.