Downsizing leads salon to leave its home of 34 years for newly renovated space on Horizon Drive and a lot more parking.

By Tim Harty, The Business Times

Harrahs Salon spent 34 years at the same location, but downsizing and saving money led its owners to say, “Goodbye, 12th Street. Hello, Horizon.”

LuAnn Harrah, who owns the salon with her husband, Brad, said their longtime home at 1005 N. 12th St., No. 102, behind the Arby’s restaurant on North Avenue, was good to them, but there’s a lot to like about 759 Horizon Drive, Unit G, where Harrahs Salon set up shop in mid-November.

At about 1,000 square feet, the Horizon Drive unit is a little less than half the size of the previous location, but Harrahs Salon now has parking galore because of the large parking lot serving the L-shaped strip mall where it resides.

The Harrahs also had a blank canvas to design what amounts to a new salon.

“We love it here, because parking is easier,” LuAnn said. “We’re not dealing with the stadium (Stocker Stadium and Suplizio Field) with their events. There are no semis in the alley. Brand new place. The building is great. We have good landlords, great neighbors. And everything’s new, because we started from an empty building.”

The Harrahs actually were familiar with the unit they moved into, because previous tenant The Stylist Hair Designs helped them in a time of need.

“We actually were here for four months, four years ago, when we had a flood in our salon, and they found asbestos,” LuAnn said. “She was kind enough to offer spaces here, and it ended up being four months instead of six weeks. And she was so kind, and the building owner is a friend of ours, and he was kind, and this is a wonderful location.”

What they saw four years ago wasn’t what greeted them when they returned in 2025.

The unit was available, LuAnn said, because the owner of The Stylist Hair Designs retired. And when that salon cleared out, it literally cleared out.

“We walked in, and there were wires for the internet, there were pipes out of the floor for the sinks, and that was it,” LuAnn said. “We did everything from new flooring, paint, all new light bulbs, new mirrors, new shampoo bowls, new washer and dryer. It was completely empty when we took over the lease.”

It took some time, but the end result is to the Harrahs’ liking aside from the smaller footprint than it was used to inhabiting.

“We had to readjust it, because our salon is different than the previous salon,” LuAnn said. “In a 2,000-square-foot salon, everything was bigger. This is smaller. So we had to readjust our stations, had to readjust our mirrors, had to readjust the washer and dryer, had to make a lash room, and had to make a pedicure area that was not here before.”

The Harrahs Salon staff remained the same, numbering five employees. Among the four who cut and style hair, one also does nails, and another one does lashes. One employee is a full-time nails tech. Harrahs Salon also has a local college student shadowing the staff, and LuAnn said she will join the staff in the spring when she graduates.

LuAnn said the transition for customers has been smooth, as Harrahs Salon used social media and email to send reminders and alert them to the move to Horizon Drive.

LuAnn, who turns 69 years old this week, said she and Brad chose a five-year lease, which means they’ve committed to continue working.

“We still want to be here,” she said. “We love what we do, and we find joy in making people feel good and looking great.

“I have a five-year lease, so yeah, we’re not retiring. We may go part-time a little bit here and there or take more vacations, but our staff is amazing. They’re great.”

Still leaving a light on for Kloey

One thing that remains the same at Harrahs Salon’s new location is the pink light in the front window, which is there in remembrance of former receptionist Kloey Lynn, who died at age 18 in a Palisade apartment explosion in April 2024.

“We always have a pink light on for Kloey Lynn,” Harrahs Salon co-owner LuAnn Harrah said. “We’ve done that since the day after she died. … She will always be part of our life.”

Harrah also shared, “The last time I spoke with her, I was on vacation, two days before she died, and she had told me she just got qualified to go to a beauty college, and then she was gonna come work for us.”

Kloey started working part-time for Harrahs Salon at age 16, but her relationship with the Harrahs started many years earlier.

“She got her first haircut here when she was three,” LuAnn Harrah said. “Did her hair her whole life, my husband did. … She used to call my husband Mr. Brad. When she was 3, she’d come in, ‘Mr. Brad, I need a haircut.’”

Harrah said she thinks it was during the first week at the Horizon Drive location that a customer arrived at 7 in the morning, and it was still dark outside, and she was unsure where the salon was in the strip mall.

But when the customer saw the pink light, LuAnn said, “She was like, ‘Oh, that’s where I need to go.’”

Nearly half a century later

Because Harrahs Salon has been around for nearly four decades, LuAnn Harrah said, “We have had lifetimes with our clientele.”

That sparked another memory, as she said she started as a hair stylist 11 years before Harrahs Salon came to be.

“You know, I still have the very first client I ever did in 1978. I still do her hair,” Harrah said.

And that client is Janice Crunk, she said, adding, “Or you could probably just say the Crunk family. They were the first clients I ever did, out of beauty college, and I still do their hair.”

Ended up where she belonged

Saying she graduated from beauty college in 1978 led Harrah to remark, “It makes me feel really old. But I love what I do.”

Her career choice was not the path she first intended, though. Harrah said she originally planned to go to college to become a teacher.

Instead, she went to beauty college, which she called “the best thing that ever happened” and added, “It worked out. It was supposed to be.”