Every great small business has a story, and Entrepreneur’s America’s Favorite Mom and Pop Shops series goes on location to hear them firsthand. In this episode, editor in chief Jason Feifer visits Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a former steel town that has spent 30 years figuring out what comes next.
That’s where he meets Kim Myles, who won HGTV’s Design Star and spent two decades on television. A year ago, she and her husband, Scott, bought Gadzooks, a Lehigh Valley salon that has been on the same corner for more than 35 years.
Her first move was doing nothing. Kim promised her team she wouldn’t change a thing for six months, aside from sprucing up the interior. “You be curious, and you shut up, and you listen,” she advises entrepreneurs buying beloved local businesses. The strategy worked, keeping loyal customers coming through the door, while making gradual changes to bring in new ones.
Another out-of-the-ordinary move: While Kim has skills, she doesn’t cut hair at Gadzooks. As Jason puts it, “If a company can’t run without its owner, you didn’t buy a business, you bought a job.”
Gadzooks offers perks that are rare in the salon world, including 401(k)s, maternity leave and mental health leave. Next, Kim and Scott plan to make Gadzooks employee-owned. “We hope by making this an employee-owned company that this outlives us,” Kim says.
Watch the video above to see how Kim redesigned the salon without closing its doors, what building community really means, and why she believes the long way is the right way.
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