Nov. 6, 2024

A hair salon that has been a fixture on 26th Street for 38 years is moving south to 41st Street.

Vanessens Hair Design will open as Vanessens Salon & Suites at 307 W. 41st St. in January, after it finishes renovating the former Boen & Associates building.

“We’re almost doubling our space,” co-owner Gloria Kolbeck said. “It’s allowing us to offer every career path that is out there. We’ll have salon suites as well as commissioned salons. Employees will have options.”

The building at 410 W. 26th St. has housed a hair salon for 45 years. Bruce & Friends opened in that location, which once was a warehouse for a grocery store.

Kolbeck bought Vanessen’s from a family member in April 2008.

In January 2018, she and employee Biz Word purchased an existing salon at The Bridges at 57th and renamed it Vanessen’s Hair Design. The salons changed the names to Vanessens in a later rebranding.

For a brief period, Kolbeck and Word also owned a third salon, Sir by Vanessens, designed for male clientele. Overseeing three salons proved to require too much division of hours, so they sold it, and it now operates as Sir & Co. at 430 E. Eighth St.

Renovation work is taking place now at the new salon, which has parking in the rear. It has about 5,800 square feet, compared to 3,200 square feet for the current site on 26th Street. The building has been gutted, and heating, air-conditioning and plumbing professionals are at work. When finished, the interior will have a light, airy and sophisticated look with plentiful green plants.

“We were looking at either revamping this space, doing a remodel, but the lease also was up, and we were looking at other options,” Kolbeck said of the 26th Street site. When the owners saw the Boen building, they realized it offered opportunity for expansion.

The Bridges location, which will remain open, focuses entirely on hair with eight service providers and five receptionists. The 26th Street location has 15 service providers and four support staff, and now at 41st Street will have the opportunity to add eight suites available for rent.

Services on 26th Street include hair, body waxing, lashes, facials and nails. Sugaring will be added when a professional joins the staff. A specialist in makeup application also will come on board.

Having both suite rental and commission salon options makes Vanessens unique, Kolbeck said. “Being able to have a stylist move any way they want to go in one space is something Sioux Falls doesn’t have,” she said.

Kolbeck has never been a hair stylist, but her role is satisfying, she said.

“I get to be a part of watching stylists grow from the time they get out of school and into very successful not just stylists but service providers, watching the growth of my staff and being able to be part of that. In our industry, there’s a lot of change. We really try to focus on making sure our staff gets the education needed to do new things in our industry.”