Source: Johnson Square

Three years ago, booth renter Brandon Hamilton was driving between Fayetteville and Springdale, Arkansas, when he saw signs for a new development under construction called Johnson Square. Intrigued, he went home and looked up the project.

“I found out they were building a whole community,” Hamilton says. “It’s a neighborhood with 300 single-family homes, 200 multi-family homes, luxury apartments and a town square.”

Still in development, the town square in Johnson is a throwback downtown area, similar to ones in nearby Fayetteville and Bentonville. People who move into the neighborhood will be able to walk to the downtown area for anything—restaurants, doctor’s offices, banks, and of course, a salon.

Source: Johnson Square Leasing

The Right Place and the Right Partner

Hamilton knew the moment he saw the plans for Johnson Square that this is where he wanted to open a salon.

“I have been in booth rental for the bulk of my career, but I started with Aveda,” he says.

“My husband, who is a banker, and I have very specific ideas about customer service and how people should be treated, and Aveda aligned (with that).”

Hamilton connected with an SDP at Aveda, who ran analytics for northwest Arkansas and found two areas where an Aveda salon would be ideal—one of those was Johnson.

With one hurdle cleared, Hamilton moved on to the developers of Johnson Square. As luck would have it, there was one retail location left.

“As soon as they heard ‘Aveda,’ they said that was exactly what they were looking for,” Hamilton says. “They wanted a high-end service and product line.”

But before he could sign a lease, he needed a business plan.

“I worked with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (ASBTDC), which is part of the University of Arkansas, to build my plan,” he says.

The free program gave Hamilton access to the templates, guidelines and advice he needed to create a solid plan for a successful business. And with the analytics that Neill and his Aveda distributor provided on his area, he was ready to start the process.

“It was a grueling and amazing experience at the same time,” he says.

Four months later, the plan was complete. Both Aveda and the project developers were blown away by the meticulously detailed plan and Hamilton and his husband/business partner, Jerry Davis, signed the lease in November 2021.

In September 2022, The Millhouse Salon & Spa opened for business in a building with a New York-style bagel shop, a pilates studio, a cosmetic surgeon, a bank and an attorney’s office. The building also has luxury apartments above it, and Hamilton’s contract states his business will be the only salon in the square.

“Some restaurants and a brewery company are opening soon, too,” he says. “People are paying a premium to live in the area, and they can walk to everything.”

Aveda Name Delivers Demand

The week he opened, Hamilton was 98 percent booked with his existing clients who were excited about the new location. He also hired an experienced stylist who moved to the area from California. Even without a clientele following her, she was booked 60 percent with walk-ups and cold calls in her first week, a credit to the powerful brand recognition of Aveda.

He’s still building his team, but has added two more stylists, including one who is Aveda trained and already sharing her knowledge of all things Aveda with the team.

“She has gone above and beyond to educate and motivate,” Hamilton says.

PurePro™ has been a vital tool for Hamilton, providing the product knowledge and education he and his team needed to become Aveda experts and stay consistent in the services they provide.

Hamilton also did 60+ hours of online Aveda education on his own before opening, and says his SDP has been available to him 24/7 for tips and advice.

“Any questions I have from retail to social media are answered immediately,” he says.

Upon Aveda’s recommendation, Hamilton has one treatment room with two massage therapists and one esthetician.

“They’re all experienced, and in a perfect storm, they all wanted to work part-time,” he says. “They’ve had a great reception—they’re already booking and pre-booking.”

By next year, Hamilton hopes to take on The Millhouse’s first new cosmetology school grad and put them through an assistant program.

“Once we’re solvent, we can lock into training,” he says. “We’re very transparent with our finances with the team—we want them all to see where it’s going and that it’s a fallacy to think it’s all profit for the salon owners.”

2023 & Beyond

Hamilton is just starting to scratch the surface of the potential revenue in his new space. Right now, only 38 homes are finished in Johnson Square.

“The goal is for the whole project to be complete in 2025,” he says. “We’re just on the fringe right now, but there are a lot of other neighborhoods within a three-mile radius that love having an Aveda salon nearby.”

The square is conveniently located right off the highway, bringing in a lot of people buying Aveda retail.

“The road we’re on is called Johnson Mill Boulevard,” Hamilton says. “It’s where the old Johnson grain mill used to run and has always been a staple in this area. We named the salon as an homage to it.”

Hamilton and Davis continue to stick to their core values of excellent customer service and treat their employees with the same respect.

“One of the first recruiting posts we did was about how people are treated and that we wanted them to feel supported and valued,” he says. “That’s what drew people to us. We’re looking for great human beings—everything else can be taught.”