A Fresh Start

Shannon Aleksandr’s Salon & Spa celebrates its renovated space

After 13 years in business, the creative minds behind Shannon Aleksandr’s Salon & Spa wanted to change up the salon’s look. Inspiration sparked at January 2019’s Redken Symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada, and turned a dream into reality.

While in Nevada, the salon’s business partners chatted with Millard Kwon, a L’Oreal-endorsed firm that designs salons. The Millard Kwon team plans every detail, down to paint colors, wallpaper, millwork, and architecture, and knew just how to refresh Shannon Aleksandr’s space.

Photo by Alex Morgan

Space was highly prized for a luxe look, salon director and shareholder Chad Butler says, so the salon’s layout was reconfigured to allow more room between stations and for elegant accents.

The barbershop’s square footage also has been doubled and finished in a gray woodgrain. Ceiling panels now feature recessed detailing. Coating the walls are fresh layers of black and white paint. A “Night Forest” color was chosen for styling stations, with “Golden Satinwood” popping on the cabinets. The nail area sports a delicate rose color under the glow of fixtures from Illuminating Expressions and the gaze of art from The Rumjahn Gallery & Framery. Seizing on a fresh start, Shannon Aleksandr’s commissioned Rachel Wambach of Sprout Design to create a sleek new logo that Alvey Signs then turned into a marquee.

Business partners Shannon Woolsey, JD Opel, Carrie Caver, Logan Eastman, and Butler hoped renovations would be complete in time for the salon’s 15th anniversary in February 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted those plans. Supply chain issues delayed construction two years.

Photo by Alex Morgan

Renovations finally kicked off in June 2022, and through October the salon was closed on Mondays to allow Happe & Sons Construction to perform the heavy renovation work. All the while, guests and employees navigated the construction zone for months.

“Our guests were great. They were excited for us. We want our guests and team to have the best,” Butler says.

Nearly 40 employees — nail technicians, barbers, stylists, guest service representatives, and aestheticians — and guests now move about comfortably within the salon and spa’s 7,000 square feet, nearly unrecognizable from its previous look.

“It’s a huge weight lifted because it went on forever,” Butler says. “When I leave, I go ‘Wow. It’s done. It’s gorgeous. We did it!’”

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Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen is the managing editor of Evansville Living and Evansville Business magazines.

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