Three beauty salons shut down at Bellis Fair, cutting jobs for more than 20 stylists
Three beauty salons at Bellis Fair abruptly closed at the end of December, leaving at least 24 hairstylists wondering where they’ll be working in the new year.
The Beautiful Group announced in a letter that Regis, Mastercuts and Mia & Maxx salons would cease operations at the Bellingham mall on Dec. 31. It was part of many salon closures across the U.S.; only about 200 salons will remain open after they were transferred from The Beautiful Group to Regis, according to a company letter.
The closure came as a shock to some of the employees, who were given around 24 hours notice about the closure.
Noel Barns, who worked at the Bellis Fair Mastercuts for nine years, said she saw some signs that the company might be struggling but chalked it up to being a new business going through a start-up phase. The company was founded in 2017, acquiring more than 850 salons from Regis Corporation.
According to its LinkedIn account, The Beautiful Group had more than 1,100 locations in North America and Europe and more than 10,000 employees.
Yvonne Ramos, a two-year employee at the Bellis Fair Mastercuts, has seen abrupt closures before in this industry. Ramos was a student at The Beauty Institute-Schwarzkoph Professional, a cosmetology school on Railroad Avenue that closed in 2017. That space would later be reopened by Bellingham Technical College.
Ramos was able to finish her schooling at Paroba College in Everett and had been working at Mastercuts for two years. She said with her six co-workers, it felt like family to her.
“It was literally a second home for me,” Ramos said.
Ramos was quickly able to find a new position at another company, Skyview Hair Salon at 4251 Meridian St. However she is concerned about her co-workers, who might have trouble finding places that have similar shifts.
Barns has started looking for a new position as well and is pondering whether to be an independent contractor renting out a booth at a salon or working for a corporation. Having worked in the same place for nine years, she has built up a strong base of regular customers and feels optimistic about continuing in the industry. She feels bad for her co-workers who haven’t built up a clientele list.
“It was quite a shock for many of us,” Barns said.
