The stylists at Mitchell's Salon & Day Spa have seen Deb Hartigan through perms, asymmetrical cuts and a number of other styles.
The retired high school English teacher says the salon's attention to detail has kept her coming back for more than 20 years.
During that time, the beauty industry has undergone an extreme makeover as the corner shampoo-and-set beauty shops were displaced by wash-and-go cuts that allowed many women to do their hair at home.
"We had all these cool hairstyles coming out, but we were still going to kind of antiquated places to have them done," said Deborah Mitchell Schmidt, who owns Mitchell's. "I really wanted to make (beauty) a real business with a real business plan."
Schmidt isn't a stylist, but she had worked for Zotos - then the largest producer of perm products. She had an interest in the industry and wanted to start her own business. So in 1983, Schmidt, who also had been director of corporate affairs at Coca-Cola, invested about $300,000 to open Mitchell's for hair, skin and nails in Montgomery.
Her full-service salon introduced a modern beauty model to Cincinnati.
Before, "if you did hair and you were any good at it, you opened your own little space," said Schmidt, 57.
She's a graduate of Oak Hills High School and the University of Cincinnati.
Mitchell's offered semi-private, spacious treatment areas and a separate waiting area, with 12 stylists and aestheticians under one roof. The beauty professionals concentrated on their clients - she hired other people to answer phones and sweep the floors. Mitchell's clients lined up day and night to use the city's first tanning bed, and the salon also introduced Cincinnati to foil highlights, Mitchell-Buyniski said.
Mitchell's aesthetic director Carol Estell said the concept was so new that she was warned not to burn bridges in case she found herself out of a job.
Estell is still with Mitchell's, which moved from Montgomery to Kenwood Towne Centre in 1988 and quadrupled its space.
Today, Schmidt owns five Mitchell's Salons & Day Spas and two Pump Salons, which comprise the largest privately owned salon and day spa chain in Greater Cincinnati, with 2007 revenues that topped $20 million. Mitchell's marked 25 years in business on Wednesday and anticipates its one-millionth haircut this year.
"Because of Mitchell's, I think the whole beauty industry has changed in Cincinnati," said Cassandra Mooar, the owner and director of International Academy of Hair Design since 1983. Mooar said that Mitchell's and those who followed have helped make the industry more respected.
In addition to the beauty innovations, Schmidt said the salons offer their employees a competitive salary - with top stylists pulling in six figures with tips - which keeps turnover low. The salon has also offered health benefits since day one, which was then unheard of in the industry, and offers retirement plans and paid vacation.
Stylists undergo at least nine months of training after graduating from cosmetology school, which Estell said sets Mitchell's apart.
And that training entails more than just keeping up with the latest styles.
"There has been a real infusion of technology," said Kevin Miller, director of the Ohio State Board of Cosmetology. "It used to be that a cosmetologist was identified by a pair of scissors and a comb. That's not necessarily true anymore."
Training is necessary because the market is more competitive, locally and statewide.
Today, Mitchell's is among half a dozen spas, hair salons and tanning salons that surround Kenwood Towne Centre.
Across the state, there are now more than 26,000 salons, compared with 11,000 in 1983 when Mitchell's opened, according to the Cosmetology Board.
Still, Schmidt of Indian Hill said revenues rise each year, increasing from $8.2 million in 1998 to $13.8 million in 2003 and $21.5 million projected for 2008.
"We know we're going to grow, we just don't know where or how," said Schmidt.
Article by Stepfanie Romine |
