Win £100 of salon style!
It’s not long since we all used to flick through fashion and celebrity magazines and long for a new dress, while getting our hair styled. But how times are changing. These days instead of looking at pictures of clothes in our favourite hair salon, we can now buy them.
Buying a pair of jeans or a special occasion dress in the same place your mane gets tamed initially sounds a bit hairy – but it’s turning out to be sheer genius for a lot of hairdressers.
So much so that in the United States – where the trend started - shopping experts are talking about hair salons becoming the convenience stores – and even the mini malls – of the 2010s.
The latest salon boutique to open in Calderdale is at the Ministry of Hair and Beauty in Bolton Brow, Sowerby Bridge.
Hairdresser Michelle Shea and boutique owner Mandie Hobson have joined forced and open Boutique@29 inside the salon. In between a colour and a pedicure customers can browse for that last minute outfit or find a present for a friend or family member before a facial.
Michelle, who has been a hairdresser for 30 years, says offering clothes, shoes, handbags and jewellery to her regular clients is creating a lot of interest: “Everyone is pushed for time these days so being able to shop while you are getting your hair done makes a lot of sense.
“It’s about offering your clients what they want and is a way to differentiate your business from others around.”
Mandie, who lives in Ripponden, opened her first shop, The Closet, in Sowerby Bridge in 2010 but moved to larger premises in the centre of Hebden Bridge two years later.
“I wished I had kept the Sowerby Bridge shop because I had lots of regular customers who struggle to get to Hebden Bridge on a regular basis. Michelle and I have been friends since we were four so when she suggested using a room at the Ministry for a boutique it seemed like a natural thing to do,” says Mandie, who also has shops in Leeds and Saltaire.
The two women try to offer clothes that appeal to all tastes, ages and pockets with prices ranging from £6 to £45.
New lines are introduced on a regular basis and hair and beauty staff – as well as customers – have been quick to spend their money there. We have got together with Michelle and Mandie to offer a Courier reader a new look for spring.
One lucky reader will get £100 to spend on a new spring outfit and have their hair dressed too. To enter, answer the following question: Where in Sowerby Bridge is The Ministry & new Boutique@29?
Send your answer on a card with your name, address, email address and phone number to The Halifax Courier, The Fire Station, Dean Clough Mills, Halifax, HX3 5AX. The deadline is noon on Friday, July 3.