A picture of the Elle Marie Hair Studio Lake Stevens store front at night, just days before the official opening of the salon.
When family members Colleen Buck, Lorry Green, and Jody Bossert teamed up to open a hair salon in Mill Creek in August 2006, they committed to offering guests an upscale salon experience driven by a well-educated, cohesive team that would ultimately result in steady growth. That growth became evident on June 5th in Lake Stevens when Elle Marie Hair Studio opened the doors to their second salon.
The new Lake Stevens hair salon resides in the space previously occupied by Studio 9 hair salon, located on Highway 9 a mile north of Highway 2. The facility has been completely remodelled from the ground up to maintain the elegance and professionalism you’ll find at their Mill Creek location. The salon features seven styling chairs, three shampoo stations, a grand colour bar, and a beverage buffet. In addition, a special mini-photo studio offers guests the opportunity to have free “before and after” pictures taken. “We recognized that online social media web sites are becoming more and more popular. Unfortunately most people don’t have quality head-shots for their profile pictures, nor are they eager to pay for high-quality printed images when they just need a quick, digital file for their web needs. Head-shots are best taken immediately after a salon makeover so adding this mini-photo studio as a free value-add to our clients made perfect sense,” said co-owner Jody Bossert.
A picture of the Elle Marie Hair Studio Lake Stevens commercial complex during the day, just days before the official opening on June 5th, 2010.
All new guests are welcomed to enjoy $10 off their haircut and an additional $10 off their colour service. Plus, to show their appreciation, Elle Marie extends the same discount to both the existing guest and the new guest on all referrals.
The team at Elle Marie Hair Studio pride themselves on their ability to excel in customer service due to their commitment to education. Their ability to execute on the latest trends allows them to offer each guest an in-depth consultation and offer suggestions that ultimately result in a style that best accommodates the look that guest had originally envisioned. Elle Marie Hair Studio is a Redken Elite salon and the bi-annual Redken Symposium in Las Vegas is always well-attended by the team. In addition, they regularly welcome stylists from surrounding salons to join their team at their Mill Creek location for classes taught by industry experts such as Chris Baran, Ann Mincey, David Stanko, and the 2007 Platform Artist of the Year, Sam Villa. And when leading educators aren’t scheduled to visit the Seattle area, Elle Marie sends their stylists to them. The route to Redken 5th Avenue in New York City is a familiar one.
Elle Marie’s commitment to excellence has resulted in them receiving their fair share of recognition as well. In 2008 they received the South Snohomish County Chamber’s Business Excellence Award, have been a top 5 finalist the past two years in Evening Magazine’s Best of Western Washington Contest, and were recently named one of the top 200 salons in America by Salon Today magazine.
Elle Marie Hair Studio has a strong commitment to the community and looks forward to getting involved in Lake Stevens. Co-owner Jody Bossert is currently the Vice President of the Mill Creek Business Association and plays an active role in the organization of the Mill Creek Festival every year. In addition, the salon’s Pink Hair for Hope pink hair extension drive every October has raised upwards of $10,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Plus, as an official sponsor of the Everett Aquasox minor league baseball team, the salon looks forward to its second year raising funds for the Mary Kay Foundation by providing buzz cuts at the game on Sunday, August 29th.
In the beginning, the potential for growth as presented by their salon consultant painted a less than rosy picture, including a statistic that less than 5% of salons in the country were actually profitable. Unfazed, the mother, daughter, and son ownership trio made a commitment to open their second salon around year five. Two weeks ago, they reached their mark in year three.
Prior to opening her hair salon in Mill Creek, Green enjoyed offering hair services to the Lake Stevens community at Studio 9 hair salon. She had a great relationship with owner Katie Kelly. However, when the opportunity presented itself to break out on her own, Green elected to do so. It was a tough decision, but she moved forward, careful not to burn any bridges and maintain the friendship. She and Kelly remained in contact until one day Green received a phone call from Kelly, who said she was ready for a change. Kelly always had a vision for her salon, but had been struggling for some time to take it to the next level. Juggling work and family can be a chore for anyone, but even more so for someone in Kelly’s shoes. Not only was she a business owner in the middle of a recession, but at home was her ultimate priority, her love and joy, her 5-year-old son, Bennett, who was living with autism. So Kelly was eager to find a new owner to take over the day-to-day responsibilities associated with running a business, yet still allow her to remain on staff to continue providing hair services to her loyal Lake Stevens clientèle. Green looped in her business partners, who performed the necessarily due diligence. Before long the decision was made to team up and planning was under-way to bring Elle Marie Hair Studio to Lake Stevens.
Life works in mysterious ways and for Lorry Green and Katie Kelly, their ability to put friendship before business has allowed life to come around full circle in a way that should prove beneficial, not only for them, but for anyone in Lake Stevens who desires an up scale, down town salon experience without the down town commute.
Elle Marie Hair Studio carries both the Redken and Pureology product lines and offers So.Cap. USA hair extensions, Brazilian Gloss treatments, Affirm relaxers and have recently introduced on-location wedding services as well. Guests interested in a fresh, modern hairstyle or hair colour service can call Elle Marie Hair Studio in Lake Stevens at (425) 397-8883 or in Mill Creek at (425) 402-1900 to make an appointment or visit http://www.ellemariehairstudio.com for more information.
Elle Marie Hair Studio is a Redken Elite hair salon serving both the Mill Creek/Bothell and Lake Stevens/Snohomish communities. For more information, visit us online at http://www.ellemariehairstudio.com or call (425) 402-1900.
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