Monday, March 7, 2016

Local Business Owner Gives Customers Entire Haircut Experience

By Kevin Morley

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y.‐ ‐In the modern generation that we live in today, it has become all

too common for people to use their phones as a way to avoid conversation. However, in a time

where conversing with friendly strangers is all too scarce, Karen’s Cuts keeps the conversation

alive.

Karen Nolan has been cutting hair for over fifteen years in Clinton County. Although her

haircuts are the main reason her customers have remained so loyal over the years, her humble

and welcoming personality enhance the haircut experience. Her genuine spirit is exemplified in

her knowing of the exact day she started working; September, 5, 2000.

Nolan’s humble persona stems from her roots as she of being on welfare, before she had

gotten involved in the world of cosmetology. After taking a one‐year program, the rookie

barber was in search of a shop to make a name for herself.

Fast forward to present day and Nolan is now comfortably in her own shop on 30 Broad

Street, Plattsburgh. It is here where she has developed a reputation for her authentic

friendliness. Although her regular’s makeup a majority of her clientele, there are still many

newcomers. An initiation ritual awaits these new customers.

After your first hair cut at Karen’s, in order to go through the initiation process, a

menthol solution is placed on the back of your neck. If it doesn’t tickle your fancy the first time

around, then you don’t have to keep going through with the ritual. But it is non‐negotiable for the

first go.

“It’s definitely become a trademark here,” Deroziere said.

Despite the fact that it may have taken some time for her name to become known as a

trustworthy barber in the Plattsburgh area, Nolan is quick to remember the name of nearly all

of her customers. On the contrary, Nolan does admit to having the rare brain fart lately, which

she

half-jokingly blames on her age.

Nolan has surpassed merely making a name for herself with customers of Plattsburgh

and in fact, befriended an abundance of her clientele. Nolan developed such close bonds with

her customers through her selfless ways. For most, they feel close to Nolan because she is

always willing to lend an ear that will listen to anyone who needs to vent to her. She prides

herself on her ability to keep a secret.

“I feel comfortable here,” Chris Deroziere, a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh said. “I think

the reason for that is Karen. She’s easy going and her conversation just kind of flows with the

barber shop atmosphere.”

For Deroziere, his relationship with Karen remains in the early stages. However, for

Brian and Deann Guimond, their barber‐customer bond runs a little deeper due to the fact that

Nolan was a part of their wedding day. The Guimonds had the shop rented out for the day of

their wedding as Deann only trusted Nolan to do her hair, just as she has for the past five years.

“We overtook her shop for that day,” Deann Guimond said. “It was a really fun time.”

A picture of the couple on their wedding day resides amongst the sea of pictures that

blanket the walls of Nolan’s shop today. The pictures collectively make up a collage of photos

that have been given to Nolan by her adoring customers, who will follow Nolan wherever she

goes.

“I’ve been going to her for over fifteen years,” Brian Guimond said. “She went to one

shop, I followed her there, she came to this shop and I followed her here. She mixes personal

friendliness with professionalism, that’s why I love it and keep coming back.”

Nolan has not always been accustomed to the stalker‐like tendencies of her current

customers. In fact, during her inaugural years of cutting hair, Nolan struggled to fill her chair.

“I didn’t have a clientele base,” Nolan said. “Who was going to sit in my chair?”

Nolan went to work in a small salon for a set 30‐days. However, during her time working

there, she had been offered another opportunity in downtown Plattsburgh. It is there where

she worked for the next nine years of her career. Due to conflicts later in her time there, she

had decided it was both the right time as well as a better business decision to open her own

shop. Nolan who had just climbed her way out of welfare was prepared to take the risk in

herself.

“I never pictured myself as a business owner,” Nolan said. “I had to take a chance in life

and I didn’t think I would make the first months rent. But now it has been almost five years I’ve

been here by myself.”

Nolan is proud of her personal accomplishments, but she is also quick to let others know

that if they have faith in themselves, they too can make changes in their life for the better.

Nolan explains how faith is all you need.

“If you believe, it can happen.”

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