Southland Mall anticipates new store additions
September 18, 2012
Amy Robichaux Langford
September 18, 2012
There are reasons Mary Brieden chooses to fashion her business the way she does. Those reasons include convenience for her customers, service satisfaction and being on the ground-floor of commerce activity rebirth in downtown Houma.
A native of Grand Isle, Brieden chuckles when she admits to hairstyling as being a “girl thing” she always wanted to do.
However, at a young age she made that work her goal, attended and graduated from Houma’s Omega Beauty College in 1996, was an apprentice at Rigsby Frederick Salon and Gallery in Baton Rouge and gained experience working in other salons since 2000.
Then on Aug. 1, Brieden introduced her own hair styling business, with a grand opening Sept. 8, as the Funktion Salon inside the 7887 Main St. building.
“I’m so excited about what’s happening at 7887Main,” the building’s owner Lori Davis said regarding Brieden’s venture opening downtown. “This along with additions like [oil and gas technical service provider] G.L. Noble Denton and others, this helps generate a real business climate.”
Davis said transforming downtown Houma from a world of almost exclusively taverns, where street activity was seen only after dark, is a significant economic move forward.
“You have to have life during the day,” Davis said. “And these business’ like Funktion Salon and the Saturday [Gulf Coast Marketplace] farmer‘s market are bringing people downtown during the day.”
“I knew when I was ready to open my own business I wanted to be downtown,” Brieden said. “I like the whole vibe of downtown and being a community.”
Brieden, as a new business owner, said location and having highly trained stylists as employees offers independent shops like hers an advantage over chain locations with high personnel turnover.
She said the crew at her shop keep mental records of what their regular clients want, have had done in the past and are working to do in changing hair styles.
“We provide a different scale of hair cutting technique,” Brieden said as she trimmed the locks of customer Melissa LeCompte.
“I have had Mary do my hair for about two years and was glad to see her open a salon in this location,” LeCompte said. “It is a lot closer to home for me than going to the mall.”
Having a variety of blades and texturing tools is only part of the job in creating a style and atmosphere that blends the setting with its architectural design of 100-year-old brick walls with contemporary stainless steel and light maple furnishings that is welcoming to young professionals and is family friendly.
“A lot of times I am a consultant, helping the client decide on a style that fits them,” Brieden said. “Sometimes I have to be willing to say, ‘Noooo, this might work better for you.’ A lot of it is being in consultation with the client, because what she might see in her mind may not be what I’m thinking based on what she is saying.”
This beautician said by personalizing relationships and work with customers, she is able to help them wear styles that are as unique as they are and will grow with them over time. “I can look at a haircut, touch it and know what technique was used to create it. I look at colors, textures even fabric as a palette for hair color, cutting and texturizing.”
Funktion Salon has different price scales based on the work performed. Men’s haircuts begin at $18 and women’s are $30 to $40. Highlights and colors begin at $55.
As for why women’s cuts are more expensive then men’s, Brieden said it is simply a matter of women’s hair taking longer to cut or style. “Basically, you are paying for time,” she said.
Brieden’s Funktion Salon received $5,000 from the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority as a business start-up grant. This was part of a $50,000 resource offered through the Foundation for Louisiana.
“These are the type of businesses we are glad we can assist,” TEDA CEO Steve Vassallo said. “Mary has a great business in what is certainly a beautiful location. It created another business opportunity in Houma.”
“TEDA helped me with a business plan and start-up costs,” Brieden said. “Working with TEDA took the fear out of starting a small business, because they walk you through the process.”
For Brieden, like most entrepreneurs who practice specific trades, the most challenging part of being in business is the business (budgeting, bills, payroll, etc.) that must take place.
“I wouldn’t want to do this job if there wasn’t a challenge, but the hardest part for me is making sure everything is in place,” Brieden said.
“If you come into my salon and I do your hair,” Brieden explained as a personal policy, “I want to know if you don’t like it so I can fix it or make it better before they try to go to someone else. It is [the customer’s] hair and they have to wear it, so I want to know if I am giving them what they expect.”
As for the shop’s name – Funktion Salon? Brieden said it resulted from a combination of ideas. The first syllable depicts what she wants as a workplace atmosphere. Funk is a genre that originated in the 1960s when musicians blended soul and jazz with rhythm and blues into a danceable form.
Funktion overall, this business owner explained, comes from her childhood when her mother instilled in her the importance of creating one’s life to have a function.
For Brieden having a salon of her own is the reward for setting goals and following a plan to reach them. Business for her is enjoyable when it is fashioned with style.
Funktion Salon owner Mary Brieden washes Melissa LeCompte’s hair prior to a trim. Brieden says opening her own salon in downtown Houma has helped her become as much a consultant as clipper for customers.
