Spotlight on our salon owners
Always exciting when it’s a new salon owner comes on board! Likewise, we love celebrating the people who’ve been with us for a long time. We’re lucky to have many salon owners, stylists and therapists who have been with us for decades.
Enter Rachel Howarth, brand new owner of Saks Hair and Beauty Poulton and Christine Blades, longstanding owner of Saks Chester le Street to tell us how they did it and what makes them tick.
Christine Blades and team at Saks Gathering 2019
Celebrating two decades as a Saks salon owner, Chris’s Saks journey started when she worked for Steve and Lucas at Saks Teesside over twenty years ago. In 1999 Chris decided that it was time to work for herself and she opened Saks Chester-le-Street, which is a thriving salon today.
Chris says: “the highlight of my time with Saks has been running my own salon; we’ve always had high standards in the work we do and the service we offer and this makes me so proud as we uphold those values more than ever now. I loved art at school and hairdressing was the perfect way to express my creativity.”
Chris continues: “I’ve stayed with Saks for so long because it works for me. I’ve been successful with my salon. I love being part of an established brand – it’s superb and has never dropped standards. There’s loads of people at Saks for me to talk to and share ideas with and if I’m not sure of anything there’s always someone to ask. I love the lifestyle that I have been able to have by owning a Saks salon. ”
Rachel is no stranger to Saks, she’s worked at Saks Lytham and jumped at the chance to move over to Saks Poulton as it’s closer to home. The opportunity then came up to own the salon and everything fell into place. Rachel always knew she wanted to be a hairdresser and says: “I was the girl plaiting everyone’s hair at lunch time at school, so no-one was surprised when I became a hairdresser.”
Rachel’s hairdressing journey officially started at 16 when she went to college to do a hairdressing apprenticeship. Passionate about education she went on to do a degree in Hairdressing Management and her PGCE teaching qualification and taught for three years at the local college. This is also where Rachel first met Saks Art Team member Sarah Clarke-Lees who was at the college at the time – fast forward a decade later and they’re working together as a hair dream team at Saks Poulton. MEANT.TO.BE.
Rachel has big ambitions for the salon and is looking forward to making use of her teaching experience, with loads of in-house training and development for her team. Rachel cites her Saks highlight so far as entering the L’Oréal Colour Trophy and is SO excited about the future of her salon… talk about #SAKSGOALS!
Interested in owning a salon? Give us a buzz on 0845 678 0290 or email franchising@saks.co.uk.
Or if you’re ready to start a career with Saks it’s here.