Darin Jon Studio hair salon finds a new niche at its new location.

By Andrea Estrada
South Coast Beacon

While many businesses find themselves downsizing in the current economy, one has grown to three times its original size and moved to new digs large enough to accommodate the expansion.
Darin Jon Studio, an Aveda hair salon formerly situated in a 500-square-foot space across from Paseo Nuevo, has relocated to 1428 Chapala St. In addition to increasing the number of clients it serves, the salon has also seen an enormous jump in retail sales of Aveda products, from $1,500 per month at the old place to more than $10,000 in December alone in the new location.
“We’re a recession-proof business,” quipped Darin Yee, who owns the studio with his wife, Cynthia. When people have to choose between food on the table and a good hair day, they’ll invariably go for the hair, he said.
“We’ve exceeded our expectations in the new place,” Yee said of the salon, which currently employs five stylists, one apprentice, an Aveda adviser and a front desk coordinator.
Yee uses the studio not just to meet the needs of the salon’s 40 to 50 daily clients, but to educate new recruits to the beauty industry.
“When we opened we wanted to do more than a mom-and-pop salon, and as we’ve grown I’ve learned that what I can offer, and which is one of our focuses, is to create job opportunities in the community,” said Yee. ”We’re creating more of an educational salon that will build the community, network with beauty schools and provide internship and mentorship programs.
“We needed a larger facility for that,” he said. “At the old place we were turning away people who wanted to be part of the studio.”
In addition to bringing on two more stylists than he had in his old location, Yee has increased the value-added services he offers his clients.
“One is a foot wash where you put your foot in relaxing, warm soapy water and get a foot cleansing massage while you’re waiting for your hair service. We also have an upper body relaxation chair.”
The Yees continue to face business challenges in their new salon but Darin Yee describes them as “all positive.”
“Because of the new location we also have a new clientele and we don’t have enough staff to service them,” he said. “When we opened the first studio we had no idea we’d get to this point.”
They continue to “tweak” the business, as well as the facility, to suit their needs. They’ve decided to bring on an esthetician, for example, and are making some structural changes to meet the needs of clients taking advantage of that person’s services.
As excited as they are to be in their new location, leaving the old place behind proved a little heart-wrenching for the Yees because of all the sweat equity they’d put into it.
“We knew every inch of the space. But a year ago we knew it was the time and we found the right place,” he said.
He continues to hold the old studio in high esteem, however, crediting it with much of his business education.
“I’m so thankful for the old place. I learned a lot,” he said. “I made some mistakes and grew from it. I was able to create our philosophy and structure. Now I’m putting it together and creating a structure for our new salon.”
Finding the new location took a while but proved to be worth the wait.
“When I was talking about it in the old location, one of my clients mentioned that she had a space and was thinking of relocating and offered for me to go look at it,” Yee said. “I liked it, but it didn’t seem like she was ready to leave. As I was walking out, I saw this space and saw it was for lease.”
The process of signing the lease, acquiring the space, and readying it for business went so smoothly that Yee believes their occupying the new location is something akin to kismet.
“I was looking at a different place and it seemed like I had to use pry bars to get the door opened,” he said philosophically. “Sometimes if a door is hard to open you should just leave it shut. But it was the opposite with this space. It was meant to be.”