Robert James Salon is moving from its location of 11 years on East Main Street — but it’s not moving far.
The salon is moving to the Woolworth Building right down the street, owner Raymond Pickersgill said.
Pickersgill said he’s been looking for a smaller space than the one he’s been renting from Riverhead Enterprises, which is much too large for the salon’s needs. He is committed to keeping his family-owned business downtown, he said, so his choices were limited.
Robert James Salon will reopen in its new location in about two weeks, he said.
Pickersgill said the salon’s current space has been too large for his needs for quite a while. It has too many stylists’ stations— most of which are no longer in use — and massage and facial rooms that aren’t regularly used any more.
Business at the salon has never fully recovered from the hit it took in the recession that took hold in 2008, he said.
“I was too slow to pare back expenses and we suffered for it,” he said. “Things were just starting to pick up when Sandy hit.” Downtown was under water from the storm surge and rain. There was more than three feet of standning water in the basements of stores on the south side of Main Street, including his shop.
The storm closed the salon for 45 days, Pickersgill said.
“It’s hard to recover from something like that. You lose customers when you’re closed for that long,” he said.
The landlord allowed him to subdivide some of the space for rent to another tenant, but it’s still too large and, consequently, too costly.
Robert James will offer cuts, styling and coloring only at its new location.
“We’re looking forward to moving to the new space,” Pickersgill said.
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