We recently connected with Ava Shire and have shared our conversation below.

Ava , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Any stylist who has been in the industry for a period of time can understand and value evolution change and reformation while spending your energy time and life working. Whether it’s the physical landscape of the salon, what it offers, who owns it, who works there, among many other possible things that can be malleable for ever changing ways; these are all qualities a hairstylist looks for in a salon working environment. 24 years in the industry working all over LA, experienced many ways of owning running being and variance in salon style and environment. I feel we are a salon that stands out and has changed in physicality and appearance multiple times keeping it fresh and different , changing and growing within multiple economic climates, adding and maturing into a gallery and greenhouse during Covid and constantly shifting especially in hard times. the hit the cinema industry has taken in recent years and government decline are hugely impactful on a small business so being adaptive is crucial. I feel a workplace should be inspiring, it’s not just a workplace, it’s where we spend a lot of our life and time. We started with doing hair, then began and continue to carry support and show other artists. in addition with time became a house of ceramics, paintings, and plants. A gallery salon or a salon gallery. All the while attempting and striving or maybe just trying, but at least that, to allow for each stylist/artist within its walls to feel individual, themselves, their own business, and supported best someone can without losing her ever growing self. Never in my years working as a hairstylist have I experienced this anywhere else besides neighborhood salon. This matters in our very short lives and living our true selves as much as we can while we strive thrive.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Being a third generation resident of the echo park/elysian heights area and having a very small family who still resides in its hills has kept and compelled me to work and live in LA throughout my life. We continue to support each other and work amongst each other. Growing up in a very artistic creative environment and lifestyle has created the foundation for my career as a hairstylist salon owner and artist. I began doing hair in middle school for my friends. We went to a catholic all girls school and we couldn’t have colored hair. So summer would hit and I’d bleach the tips and add vivids, rainbow style, or all primaries in stripes. After high school I got my hair license and tried salons all around town ending up back in my neighborhood working and growing a clientele and then opening neighborhood salon on echo park ave. 6 years later making it’s birthday a little over 14 years ago. Echo park avenue is also where the first house I grew up in happens to be. I’ve spent the majority of my hair life in Silverlake and Echo Park. I trained on the west side, but it was not the place for me. Neighborhood salon is a gallery salon, super colorful and ever changing in design concept. The salon shares a green alley of propagated plants and painted plants that we sell and show. We house ceramics and paintings which we also have for sale. And so it keeps going.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

There’s a few things that I’ve seen that truly matter in growing and keeping a clientele. Availability, staying in the same area and infrequent salon changes, quality of work, consistency or ability to switch it up, communication, making your client feel good in their appointment, these things will result in a happy client who looks good and feels good leaving. They will show it and speak of it review it. Word of mouth, Referrals are one of the best and most consistent way to build a regular clientele.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Learning how to navigate and function from a position of “my work is my life and I lovingly live my work” to “I don’t want to miss anything about Blue, it’s going too fast, work can wait” is still the most difficult and constantly adjusting most monumental constant life pivoting. Having my son and being a single mother who owns a small business, but also wants to be there for her son and herself, and misses him during the day and on weekends, but needs time and mental space for clarity to move and groove with the constant shifts of time and circumstance; of Covid of strikes of economy and government, but I don’t want to miss out or let him down. It’s constant pivoting to love be and be accountable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Avashire.com
• Instagram: Avashireava
• Facebook: Neighborhood salon
• Yelp: Neighborhood salon

Image Credits

Joshua White Photography