Amanda celebrating 15 years with The Hair Emporium

Celebrating 15 years in business at her salon The Hair Emporium, Amanda Lambe says it has gone by in a flash, writes Brian Byrne.

Amanda set up the business in 2009 at what was then the height of the recession. Looking back to that 21-year-old who decided to set up her own high quality salon — the ‘Emporium’ in the name suggested that from the beginning — she remembers positivity and enthusiasm. "I was young. I had so much confidence. I never for a minute thought it wasn't going to work. I had a lot of energy, I wasn't married, I had no kids. And when this shop unit came up to rent from James Nolan, I jumped at it."

She knew the hair salon business. Her mother had run Cross Cuts at the crossroads for a decade, and Amanda had trained both there and in Dublin with the international salon chain Toni&Guy. She had innovative ideas. "We provided really good coffee. We opened on Sundays, which appealed to mums who could take a few hours to chill while the dads minded the kids. I chose an elegant style, offering a quiet and calming atmosphere."

It all worked. Even though there were five salons competing in Kilcullen, the business prospered. Five years in, Amanda took a decision to buy the premises, which was to prove very important later.

Hairdressing is a highly competitive area, not least because it's common in the industry for employees to leave and set up their own businesses. Taking a share of customers with them because women typically prefer going to the same person in a salon every time. Still, starting off with three people 15 years ago, the colleague complement in The Hair Emporium currently stands at eight, suggesting Amanda's business is doing fine. But it wasn't all plain sailing.

"If I could find my original business plan now, I'd probably have a good laugh," she says with a wry smile. "I was so young. I was a baby in the business. There were many tough times, and we had to make changes." Among those changes was a personal one, marrying Shane Lambe and the births of their two children. Amanda recalls very short maternity leaves after those latter. "So much so that when the pandemic happened and we had to close and it was very tough for everyone, I look back now and I'm very grateful for the time it gave me to be with my children that I hadn't had earlier."

As it was for almost every business in the country, the pandemic was a time of massive uncertainty. For Amanda, the earlier decision to buy her own premises now proved to have been incredibly fortunate. "We didn't have to worry about rent. I had a mortgage, but we were able to press pause on that. And the Government gave huge support. We also knew that when we reopened again, we'd be really busy, with customers wanting to get out from their homes again." 

The post-pandemic reopening of hair salons did indeed prove to be extraordinarily busy. But with the distancing and other protection requirements, it meant completely re-designing the space inside The Hair Emporium. Chairs, basins, and electric points all had to be moved. In turn that meant new flooring. "It was a time when none of us were really clear just what we had to do. I remember having lots of phone conversations with friends in the beauty industry, all of us trying to work out what we were doing, with PPE, and how to deal with so much demand."

Time, however, tends to sort things. Today The Hair Emporium is more than holding its own. "Even though there are still five salons in the town, and many other people providing hairdressing services from their homes, we have a loyal customer base. A big hinterland, towards Ballymore, and Donard, for instance. People like the access and the free parking, and where we're located there's a good footfall around other businesses on the street, which gives us exposure."

But it's always a case of trying to stay ahead, including making sure staff get to attend the latest courses in all aspects of hairdressing. "We try our best to give a service that's really premium and is a complete retreat out of a woman's day. Lots of the things that we did when we started have since been adopted by other salons, so the bar is raising all the time. Sometimes on social media I see someone doing something different, and I say to myself, well I missed that boat." Social media has become very important in the industry, even though Amanda says she's not particularly techie. "It's hugely important, and I have a love-hate relationship with it. Unlike bigger operations, I can't afford to have a receptionist who will also manage the socials."

The original Sunday opening is now also long gone. "That was pre-children, and though there would still be a huge market for it, there has to be a life balance." Instead, The Hair Emporium opens at 8am on a Saturday and stays open till 8pm on a Thursday. "Those Saturday 8am appointments are like gold dust, very popular."

As she said when she opened, "if we can make it work in a recession, then we can fly when it gets good." Amanda has 15 years to look back on, and though nobody in business can look too far into the future, it's good now. Flying now.

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