We recently caught up with leading Liverpool hair and beauty salon, Barbara Daley, to find out more about their salon, the decor and their plans for the future.
Tell us a bit more about Barbara Daley…
We are considered by many in the industry to be Liverpool’s premier hair and beauty destination. OK magazine called us ‘a Liverpool institution’ and Grazia magazine named us as one of their hot five hair salons. Last year alone we won awards from Hair Magazine, Juice FM and The Collective magazine for being the North’s most stylish salon. But it’s not just about the awards for us; we pride ourselves on the friendly personalised service we offer to each client that comes through the door.
What do you think makes your salon stand out among competitors in Liverpool and the UK?
We never compare our business to other salons. We see our competitors as high-end restaurants, designer clothes boutiques and other luxury places where people spend their disposable income. We don’t buy into fads or do offers. We pride ourselves on offering the best service every time – not just the first time – and aim to make a luxury treatment a necessity for our clients
Where did your salon style inspiration come from?
Our salon is housed in a Grade II listed building with amazing views of the city and we wanted to do justice to the heritage of the building and exploit the amazing natural light we get from our huge 24-foot windows. The salon is just the right mix of contemporary and traditional which we believe will never go out of fashion. In 2015 we updated the salon’s colour scheme which was a huge undertaking and forced us to close for three days but we realised the importance of this in keeping the salon fresh and a pleasure to enter for our clients.
How was your experience with buying furniture for your salon from Salons Direct?
I would highly recommend buying furniture from Salons Direct. It was great to be able to visit their showroom and see the wide choice of furniture available to us. The aftercare service has been fantastic too. All in all high quality products from a great supplier.
You’ve been in business for many years, what keeps your customers coming back?
This is our 26th year in business and we never get complacent, thinking that the clients will just keep coming back. We have to ensure they get the best service every time, that our staff are trained to know the latest trends and share them with the people coming to us, that we keep pushing ourselves creatively and we encourage our clients to change. This, together with our friendly staff, high standard of work and all the little extra touches, creates an environment that people want to keep coming back to and long may that continue.
How do you keep up to date with the new beauty and hair trends?
We are always looking at magazines, films and runways for inspiration and we also try hard to create our own trends. We regularly hold creative evenings in salon for the staff to practice. Also heading the backstage team at Graduate Fashion Week every year allows us to work with the fashion world’s rising stars and be inspired by their vibrancy and new perspectives on trends and gives us the opportunity to create fashion forward looks that go straight from the catwalk back to our clients.
What do you think makes a successful salon?
Consistency. It can’t just be great the first time you come it has to be great every time. We pride ourselves on the great team we have here and the skilful work we do. Clients are wowed on their initial visit but then their expectations are high and if their second visit doesn’t match that they will go elsewhere. Every time has to be as good as the first, if not better.
What shall we expect from you in 2016?
2016 is a really exciting time for us, after a busy twelve months in last year celebrating our 25th anniversary with both the staff and clients, this year is all about focusing on the hair and beauty we do, improving our skills and learning new ones. We have lots of in-salon training planned as well as educating our clients on what we are up to. It’s about having fun and enjoying what we do and hopefully this passes on to our clients and friends of the salon too!
Looking at restyling your salon? Make sure you check out our extensive range of Lotus Salon Furniture here!