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Linda Campbell
From left, Lauren Ashline, stylist and skin care expert; Renee Best, owner and cosmetologist; and massage therapist Lindsay Walser work at Renee’s Salon & Spa in Addison.
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ADDISON, Mich.
After making a career out of managing dental practices and then being a dental supply and equipment representative, only to have business hit hard by the recession, Renee Best decided to switch to a completely different line of work.
The result was Renee’s Salon & Spa, at 101 S. Steer St., Addison.
“I’ve always liked to do hair and nails,” said Best, which made her choice of a new career a natural one. She was able to start her business in a building that had previously housed one of her father’s Peppi’s Pizza locations. After he retired, the building had sat empty until he offered to let her use it lease-free for a year.
“And I just decided, what the hey,” she said, laughing.
She renovated the building for its new purpose and opened the salon in March 2011. And she’s pleased with how her first months in business have gone, especially considering that as a completely new operation she had no previously established clientele.
Renee’s Salon & Spa offers a full line of hair services for men, women, and children, plus acrylic and gel nails, manicures and pedicures, waxing, facials, full-body herbal wraps and therapeutic massage. The facials come in different levels depending on the customer’s skin care needs, including a new kinetic powerderm abrasion facial that Best said has been “a big hit.”
The body wraps are another newer service. “It’s a really cool product,” said Best, involving using warm wraps containing aloe and herbs.
Besides Best, two other women work at the salon. Her oldest daughter is the massage therapist, and Best is actually an apprentice to the shop’s other cosmetologist, who has more than 35 years’ experience in the business.
“It really helps me to be a better cosmetologist,” she said, because she’s learning things that go far beyond the basics she learned in cosmetology school. Of course, she admitted, she also knows it’s rather unusual for a shop’s owner to be apprenticed to someone who works there. “I tell people I know I did this backward,” she said with a laugh.
At the same time, she said, her previous career experience has been invaluable because she came into her new venture already knowing how to run a business.
Best said that operating Renee’s has been fun for her and the other two women who make up the staff. Between them and their clients, “we have a really good time,” she said. And she likes being in business in Addison.
“We’ve made some really good friends here,” she said. “It’s a nice community.”
Renee’s Salon & Spa is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Extended hours are available by appointment. Walk-ins are welcome as long as someone is available to work with them.
The salon can be reached at 252-5075. It is on Facebook as well as at reneessalon.net.
This article was written based on information provided by the business.
Lenawee in Business is a feature of The Daily Telegram business page for new businesses and businesses celebrating a major anniversary. If you have a story for a Lenawee in Business, call assistant news editor Sue Van Fleet at 265-5111, ext. 259, or email sue@lenconnect.com.