Turlough Hair & Beauty celebrate seven years in business
By Tom Gillespie
TURLOUGH Hair & Beauty, outside Castlebar, celebrate their seventh anniversary this week.
Suzanne Gibbons and her staff boast of having a purpose-built salon, with wheelchair access and free parking in the village.
The salon opened in 2009 and was managed by Suzanne until 2015. That year Suzanne became the new proprietor of the premises and the business has been thriving ever since.
Suzanne is proud of the quality service her team offers to a loyal and expanding client base.
She strongly believes that training is essential to maintain their high standards and continually invests in upskilling her therapists and stylists.
She sees ongoing training in both professional skills and customer service as vital to the continued growth of her business.
Suzanne feels it is essential to differentiate themselves from other salons, to offer treatments and products that are not available elsewhere and to always focus on the quality of their offering.
Turlough Hair & Beauty is an official L’Oréal salon, which they take great pride in.
They specialise in ladies styling, colour and cuts, beauty, body and eye treatments, facials, nail care, massage, threading, make-up and waxing treatments.
Suzanne told me: “I have been working here for the past 12 years and I bought the salon seven years ago this week. I was managing it for a few years before I bought it.
“The last 10 months with Covid were tough but we got through it. Thankfully everything is getting back on track with weddings, etc.
“Previous to Covid there were a lot more of us here but Covid changed all that. But thank God business is good. We have a great location in Turlough. It is a great catchment area and one of the big advantages is that we have free parking and we are wheelchair accessible.
“The hair and beauty bounce off each other. There are so few places around Castlebar where the beauty department is downstairs.”
Suzanne, who was always doing hairdressing, added: “I was over in England before I started working here and I worked in salons around Castlebar while I was training. I went over to England for a year and when I came back the salon was just here over three or four months.
“I would love to get us back to being a seven-day a week salon again. We used to be that. That was a great pull for bringing new clients because nobody else was doing it.
“The arrival of Covid gave us a shove to look at different ways of generating income so we have an online shop now where all our products are available.
“When I took the place on first I got a salon branded app where people can book online - we were one of the first salons in town to offer this service - and we have developed the website on an ongoing basis.”
Talking about her background, Suzanne said: “I was brought up in Liverpool. I was just 10 when we moved back. Both my parents are from Parke. I went to Parke National School for two or three years and later to Davitt College in Castlebar.”
She added: “The salon was purpose-built and we have five treatment rooms. Eighty-five per cent of my clientele are repeat clients and are of all ages. That is the bread and butter of the business.
“With Covid, people have got used to booking in advance. Some clients now have their appointments booked up to the end of the year.”
The salon is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Closed on Sunday.
Early appointments are also available on request. Free parking is available on site.
Turlough Hair & Beauty can be contacted on (094) 9289724 or (094) 9289725 or shop online at www.turloughhairandbeauty.ie.