Broadview -
Annie Savage
With 25 years of hair-dressing experience under her belt, Shelly Frieze finally felt that she was ready to take the leap and start her own salon, which officially opened June 25.
"We've just decided to dub it Shelly's Place, because it's simple," Frieze said about the new Broadview business.
Her salon may be brand new, but Frieze had been toying with the idea of starting her own business for quite some time.
"I've been thinking about it for the last few years," she said.
Shelly's Place is located next to the Broadview Legion in a house formerly rented out by Frieze. When her tenant told her that they were moving out, she saw her big opportunity to put her plans into action.
"It's been a year since I've really decided that I was going to do this eventually, whenever the renter moved out," she said.
She also saw the potential for her sister to be able to practice her own skills and join Frieze in her endeavor. She will soon be working at Shelly's Place, performing pedicures, manicures waxing and other esthetic services.
Frieze also hopes to add another service that she feels is highly desired by Broadview residents.
"I would like to get a tanning bed started, hopefully this fall. Listening to some of my clients I was doing hair for, they were all driving to Grenfell or elsewhere to use tanning beds."
She believes that, aside from helping her business, the tanning service could give her town a little boost as well.
"I thought it would be a nice service to offer into Broadview. If you keep people in your town, it helps out your town."
Although the salon is fully up and running, Frieze calls it a "work in progress," as it still needs a bit of work before it achieves that salon look.
"We're still doing cosmetic things like baseboards and doors and stuff like that," she said.
The hardest part however, which has been to turn a residential home into a business, is pretty much complete.
"We've been at it for about three weeks," Frieze said. "We just renovated the kitchen, we've torn all of the cupboards out of the kitchen and renovated that into the salon area. The living room will be the waiting area. Then my husband built a nice deck and sturdy steps into the front area."
Frieze graduated from the Moose Jaw Hair Design Academy 25 years ago, and has been doing hair on and off ever since. She has been doing hair full time for roughly the past ten years.
When she left her previous hair-cutting job in Broadview, Frieze felt confident that she'd acquired enough loyal customers to get started on her own.
"The clients have been wonderful. They're willing to wait for me and they've been excellent," Frieze said. "They all knew about two months ago that I was planning this, and they were all very excited for me. The clients I've looked after for the last 8 1/2 years, I knew they would follow me and they've lived up to that, so that part's been great."
Her goal for Shelly's Place is fairly simple.
"I just hope it keeps me employed for the next 20 years."
