Beauty Biz Spotlight : Helmet Hairworx

May 3, 2010 by admin
Filed under featured

signhelmet With more and more businesses contracting to cut costs, it’s refreshing to see one beauty business owner’s hard work and smart business philosophy pay off. Excellent customer service, high stylist retention, a reputation for excellence and a margin that is up 10-15 % over last year have all provided the means for the latest Helmet Salon (number five) opening on the Westside of Atlanta. Atlanta Salon and Spa talks with owner, Randy Addison.

Atl S&S talked with Randy Addison, owner/Helmet:

What and Who is Helmet Salon?

Good question! Helmet is a collection of exceptional stylists all working toward the same notion that hair is an expression of a personality, from subtle to outrageous. Our passion is to collaborate with a client and manifest a style as individual as the personality. Without creative expression and great customer service, we wouldn’t be able to grow. Staying true to a studio environment is the biggest challenge.

What is your Business Philosophy and your creative Philosophy?

Business philosophy: be ready to change and grow with the demands of the marketplace. For now, great customer service is all but lost in our culture, so we will continue to strive in that direction.

Creative philosophy: I see hairstylists as artists. Providing structure, stability, and freedom will always be a delicate balance in a business filled with creative minds. For the most part, as far as our clients are concerned, we encourage our stylists to excel in both cut and color, so as to see a vision through from beginning to end. We claim that we are all now more connected, through electronic means; but experiencing that personal connection and trust between stylist and client is still such a powerful thing.

Tell us what to expect with the new Salon on Westside.

This studio embodies several aspects of the direction our business is going. It’s small, simple, hip, contemporary, convenient–all the things the busy style-seeker could want.

Where do you see Helmet in 10 years? What changes do you forsee for the beauty biz, especially emphasis on a changing economy?

Unless you are one of the beauty mega-corps, the beauty business is financially difficult for the small business owner, and that is probably going to become more and more apparent as overhead and the cost of doing business continue to increase. We’ve seen many salons in the city close their doors over the last year. Hopefully, ten years from now, Helmet will have grown into an even stronger brand, synonomous with stability, great service, creative expression, and accessibility.

Any Springtime Tips for people concerning Hair and or skin from you and the stylists?

After a particularly brutal winter, be kind to your skin; but mostly, come out of your coccoon ready to show off some new color and new style. Nothing says “spring” like a transformation!

“Choosing a new stylist or salon can be nerve racking! As stylists, we go through the same kind of stress when deciding which salon we’d like to work in. Helmet continues to grow because we offer a unique studio environment. Fancy? No, not really. But our

randy studios have attracted, and continue to attract, an exceptional blend of hairstylists dedicated to you and their craft.

In 2003, I started Helmet as a place for me and couple of other stylists to relax and concentrate on our work. Within months, a few individuals grew into a team. Within a couple of years, one studio became two, then three, then four. Why? Because the number of stylists and thrilled clients continued to grow.

Clarity is such a wonderful thing. Clarity of purpose. Helmet offers stylists a place to express themselves and create a special look for YOU, the client. Through our alignment with Aveda, Bumble and Bumble, and other leaders in the beauty industry, our opportunites for advanced education continue to strenghten our dedication and ability to serve you.”