New salon, new rules

by Jolene Perron

The women running a new hair salon in Amherstburg are taking business into their own hands and calling their own shots.

Tamara Moore opened I Dare Your Hair salon on 60 Murray Street while renting chairs to Laura Beneteau and Kim Cote. However, this salon is run differently from others in Amherstburg.

Moore holds the lease on the space and said renting chairs is common in Windsor and while only one other salon in Amherstburg does this, she’s handling it differently.

“Here we keep things as separate as possible because that keeps it as simple as possible and that way we aren’t fighting over money or fighting over clients,” said Moore. “You’re your thing, I’m my thing and we’ll keep it that way.”

Moore is bringing 11 years of experience to the table. For eight years she worked in salons and for the remaining three she has managed I Dare Your Hair out of a smaller space. She began working on her own because in this business “you really don’t make money unless you’re working for yourself.” This is what made Moore think about expanding and renting chairs to other stylists.

“I worked in this business for eight years and made (my bosses) rich and I was tired of it,” said Moore. “So I wanted to give these girls the opportunity to make money for themselves. This way their rent isn’t as high, their overhead is lower so they’re going to make more money … it’s my way of saying “Hey I want you to do better.””

Within 20 minutes of signing a lease on the new building Beneteau called Moore to say she was all in.

“It couldn’t be any better, it’s perfect,” said Beneteau. “I don’t have someone looking over my shoulder. I can spend more time with my clients, my hours are much more flexible. It’s totally different, it’s way more fun, way better.”

Beneteau worked at the same salon for seven years and needed a change of pace. She finds it easier to be the only person talking with her clients and feels closer to them. She said she is closer to some of her clients than her own family.

The final addition to the trio came in to the salon the week of Thanksgiving. While Cote has been at this new location for only a short time, she said her clients are very cooperative with the different situation.

“I wanted to see what it was like on the other side rather than working for someone else I wanted to know what it was like to call my own shots so to speak,” said Cote. “I don’t necessarily want to be the boss of anyone except for myself. I wanted that responsibility and just to gain experience and touch on the business part of it.”

The Trio have known each other upwards of three years. They agreed their business is different from many other salons in Amherstburg.

“It’s not really adding another salon because like I said I’ve been doing hair in town for ten years,” said Moore. “So essentially we’re adding another concrete place but we all have the same people coming and going and somehow everybody is busy.
Sure it’s adding another place but we’ve all been doing hair for so long we’re really just relocating our people.”

PHOTO CUTLINE:
Oct. 15 2013 – Laura Beneteau, Tamara Moore and Kim Cote (L-R) sit in their new salon in Amherstburg. (PHOTO by Jolene Perron)