With spring just around the corner, the Uptown Girl salon in Burton is ready to glamorize brides, bridesmaids, prom queens and anyone wanting to look their best for those special occasions.
With spring just around the corner, the Uptown Girl salon in Burton is ready to glamorize brides, bridesmaids, prom queens and anyone wanting to look their best for those special occasions.
Offering custom coifs and long-lasting, air-brushed makeup applications, the salon’s owner, Aimee Knopp Hoar, aims to apply her experience in making clients confident in their appearance.
Her updated space at 14543 North Cheshire St. in Burton Village is familiar territory to most residents. Until Hoar leased it last year, it was the Uptown Barber Shoppe where Larry Moore clipped, buzzed and shaved customers for three decades
Hoar felt it was an ideal location for a slightly different service.
Having operated the Pin-up Beauty Salon in Mentor for 11 years, Hoar said she was looking for a second shop closer to home and the empty unit appealed to her.
“I just like the vibe of it,” she said, adding she does typical haircuts for any gender or age.
“I welcome any of Larry’s clients here,” she said. “Men will come in — they don’t care if the chairs are pink. A lot of people loved Larry — he was always telling jokes.”
When her husband, Scott Hoar, and her father, Robert Knopp, started to gut the shop to remodel it to meet her design, they uncovered the brick wall she shares with the neighboring hardware store.
She opted to keep the exposed brick as a backdrop for her boutique of clothing and jewelry — a facet of the shop she would like to expand.
Since she opened in November, Hoar’s focus has been on scheduling bridal party hairdos and air-brush makeup with more than a dozen scheduled for this year.
“I love to do weddings — I want more,” she said, adding she recommends brides call her at least a year in advance for specific dates, which can range from February to December.
“My prime season is May through November,” she said.
Her Burton shop boasts two stations for customers wanting a cut, perm or color and she is open Wednesday through Saturday for appointments or walk-ins if time allows.
As business picks up, Hoar said she will look for someone with a barber and salon license and a good work ethic to take the second pink chair.
In the rear of Uptown Girl are three chairs where Hoar takes care of bridal parties or other groups wanting that glamor look for other events, such as first communion or anniversary parties.
An average bridal party day would see her working on the bride, several bridesmaids, the flower girl and mother of the bride.
If needed, she has a network of other bridal stylists who will assist her in the shop as she helps them when called.
“With the other stylists, we could do a party of 12 to 18 ,” Hoar said.
Her network includes the Cleveland Glam Squad and when she gets a call from Jocelyn Emerson to be second stylist, Hoar plans to travel. Updos by Jocelyn has more than 136,000 followers on social media and Hoar and Emerson have been friends for years.
“She knows I’ll show up for a job,” said Hoar.
Most of her clients are in Northeast Ohio, but the Burton resident has traveled as far as Kentucky to style for a wedding.
Emerson boosted her following when she put styling tutorials on her site during the COVID-19 shut-down, Hoar said.
“Jocelyn is definitely an inspiration to me,” she said.
With high school prom season coming up, Hoar recommended clients book hair and makeup appointments in advance and avoid the last minute rush.
Meanwhile, she is basking in the atmosphere of her renovated shop and hoping people will stop in to enjoy her boutique.
“This has always been my dream and now it’s finally all becoming a reality,” she said. “It’s been fun doing it.”
