Opening a hair salon in Lowell is a bit different than running one in the bustle of downtown Grand Rapids. However, the owner of Echo Salon is loving the diversity and small town vibe in her newer location.
Owner Melissa Looman purchased the Lowell salon in the Lowell Plaza at the corner of West Main Street and Lincoln Lake Avenue in October 2022. It has seen steady growth ever since.
Looman travels back and forth between her two salons, with the other located on Sheldon Boulevard in a very busy downtown area of Grand Rapids. This older location has been open for six years and experienced a very large increase in clientele since the reopening of businesses after the COVID pandemic. Looman felt this would be a good time to expand her business so she purchased another location, but this time in Lowell.
She says her two salons offer very similar services and hold themselves to a high level of quality customer service for all their clients. However, the atmosphere is a bit different between the city and small town locations.
“Coming here two years after COVID, it’s quieter, a slower start, but I totally expected that,” Looman says. “But it’s definitely growing and building as people are learning about the salon, and it’s been really fun.”
Trained at the Douglas J. Aveda Institute in Grand Rapids, Looman has her cosmetology license and has previously worked at Panopoulos Salons.
Her team at the Lowell salon consists of four employees, and she said she has room to hopefully add more.
Echo Salon is a “luxury” haircut, color, and extension salon. Looman explains that this means “going the extra mile, taking a little bit extra time on the color to make sure that they are going to last longer and be exactly what you want.”
Looman says this may be different from what some people in Lowell expect.
“Focusing on those things and offering that here, I feel like it’s a little bit of a different mindset to the other local salons or even what this salon was before,” she says. “So I think it’s been a little bit of a change, a shift to take that extra time, and, of course, then it costs a little extra. But then it lasts you longer. That’s the thought process behind it.”
Looman says her staff stays on top of trends and latest techniques in order to pass their knowledge on to their clients.
The price for a men’s clipper cut starts at $31. A women’s cut begins at $41.
Looman enjoys her days in Lowell and appreciates the diversity of the community. She says there is a wider variety of age groups in her Lowell clients which helps her staff to experience different styling and hair coloring needs.
“I feel like the clientele is very diverse here… More kids and families and men. You can’t be quite as specialized when you’re in a smaller town.”
Looman says she is very happy that she decided on Lowell to expand her business. “The community here is amazing. There’s just always something going on, and there’s always events and things. The community spirit is really fun. It’s a wonderful group of people.”
To learn more about Echo Salon, visit their website or follow them on Facebook.
Leave a Reply