Jan. 17, 2018

A longtime hair salon has expanded with a second location.

Vanessen’s Hair Design owner Gloria Kolbeck and employee Biz Word purchased Belle Touche at The Bridges at 57th. The salon was owned by Pat and Stacy Chedester, who also recently sold their Sun Tan City business to Year Round Brown. They opened Belle Touche seven years ago.

The salon, which is next to Flyboy Donuts, has been renamed Vanessen’s Hair Design, and the new sign is going up this week, Kolbeck said. All seven stylists will remain.

Kolbeck said the location is perfect.

“We knew the growth was going south, and we wanted to be far enough from this location,” she said of the original business on 26th Street just east of Minnesota Avenue. “We were kind of at a loss for a long time” trying to find the right spot.

Because Vanessen’s is affiliated with the cosmetics company Aveda, it has to follow requirements about distances between salons that use those products.

Belle Touche at 57th Street and Western Avenue also was an Aveda salon, so the owners and staff at the two businesses were acquainted with each other through company meetings and training sessions.

Kolbeck said the Chedesters approached her about buying the business.

“They knew they wanted their staff to be OK and be successful,” she said.

While the stylists at The Bridges focus on women’s hair, facials and body waxing, the 26th Street salon offers those services and also does manicures and pedicures, and has a barber for men. Sixteen staff members work at that location.

Kolbeck has never been a hair stylist. She bought the business in April 2008 from a family member, but before she did, she worked “undercover” at the front desk for six months, learning about the salon and gauging whether it was the right fit for her. “My husband calls me the original ‘Undercover Boss.’ ”

Kolbeck plans to keep expanding.

“Now with a business partner, the plan is to keep growing, keep expanding.”

She’s hoping to open the next location at Lake Lorraine on the west side of the city once the retail centers are built along the water.

“That will be a couple of years, so that’s great for us.”