Roots Salon
5711 Broad St., Greendale
7959 S. Main St., Oak Creek
16750 W. Bluemound Road, Brookfield
Neighborhood: Greendale Gazebo Square, Drexel Town Square, Brookfield Fashion Center
Founded: 2007
Owners: Shannon Lopez and Naomi Prusinski
Employees: 73
Service: Full-service salon
How do you choose your locations?
Shannon Lopez: “The opportunity arose. The first three stores were takeovers. It sometimes can be much less expensive initially to take over an existing salon because you don’t have to do the buildout and that was our model in the beginning.”
Why did you close your Third Ward salon?
“Learning how to grow from two to three is a learning curve in and of itself, and I think we learned that you can’t just open a location and have instant culture. Our brand is based on the guest experience and extreme value. That location had a little bit of difficulty providing that because parking was a major issue and that doesn’t go along with our guest experience.”
You’re bringing on shareholders in 2018?
“We’re working with a consulting company on it, but it would be on kind of an invitation basis. We’re also by the end of this year going to be offering 401(k), which is a major milestone in our company. This year we offered paid maternity, which was another milestone for us. We offer health insurance and vacation pay, all things which are not commonly offered in this industry.”
What is driving your growth?
“Growing our team. If you don’t have a team member working for you, you can’t service your client.
What’s new at Roots?
“We are now going to be coming to Wauwatosa on State Street.
“We had $3.2 million in revenue this year. Last year was about $2.4 million.”
