The owner of a hairdressing salon is set to celebrate 25 years in business and has thanked her “loyal” clients for sticking by through difficult times.
Victoria Poole started her very own salon, Unique Hair Shop, in Thetford, in 1995 when she was just 22-years-old.
Starting on her own in a small shop on Doran’s Corner, she has built the business up to a refurbished salon on Castle Street, with six staff members, hundreds of clients, two beauticians, a chiropractor and tattooist, the now 47-year-old said she can’t believe it has been 25 years on Friday, October 9.
Mrs Poole, who lives in Weeting, said: “When you’re young and you start a business, you don’t think that far into the future but we have had a huge amount of support over the years.
“I was at the salon on Doran’s Corner for a long time but in 2014 we bought this place, which was a purpose-built motorcycle shop, and it was a huge renovation project which took about a year to complete. It was very stressful but it was definitely worth it in the long run.
“Because it was such a massive space, we decided to rent out rooms to other businesses in the town, so now we have two beauticians, a chiropractor and a tattooist. It’s great working alongside them.
“I enjoy my job so much, I love people and I love making people feel good, it honestly doesn’t feel like it has been 25 years.
“But I feel very fortunate to have such lovely, loyal, clientele who have stuck by us through difficult times, especially this year.”
Despite reaching the milestone in her career, Mrs Poole said it has been a difficult year as salon owners were left fearing for the future when the pandemic hit.
But with all of her staff back from furlough and with every measure in place to keep her customers safe, the mother-of-two is hopeful her business, now called Unique Hair and Beauty, will survive.
“It’s very different in salons right now,” said Mrs Poole.
“It’s not a pleasant way of working, because we have to wear masks and visors which can be very hot and sweaty.
“And it’s not going to be a profitable year at all, because we are limited with what we can fit into our working day.
“But it has to be done and we have to continue working in the safest way possible. I think we will get by as long as we don’t get shut down again.”
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