GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Monday, June 15 is the day hair salons, day spas, nail salons and makeup studios in Michigan can reopen for business. And as one Grand Rapids based small beauty business emerges from the shutdown, it's changing not only the makeup application process itself, but also its business model.
Makeup BLVD was a brick and mortar store located in Eastown. The owners have decided to pivot their business strategy into a more modern approach.
"“You know the brick and mortar is great in theory but people what that convenience and so we thought if we can pivot the business and really create this model that the consumer wants and plus our artists," says Makeup BLVD co-owner Shaun Fitzpartick. "So providing them with the freedom to make a good living and to pick and choose the jobs they go to it gives them the opportunity to decide how they want to spend their time.”
Makeup artists will now bring their tools and services right to the client. Shaun Fitzpartrick also owns the legal support firm Fortz Legal in downtown Grand Rapids. In the luxurious office space at 25 Division Street South, Fitzpartick has also created a space for Makeup BLVD artists to meet with their clients.
"Covid hit and we said 'wow, this is an opportunity for us to leverage this new environment on our business model," Fitzpatrick says. "And so its exciting for us to kind of relaunch here on June 15 under this new model and give the Grand Rapids market the 'to you' service."
In addition to redirecting their business plan, The Makeup BLVD team is prepared to reopen with proper PPE and sanitation equipment.
“I think it is very important for me to make sure I’m staying on top of sanitizing and washing my hands in between clients," says Co-owner of Makeup BLVD and professional makeup artist Melina Tobin. "The client will go over some paper work that we have set up, we’ll take their temperature. Me as the artist I will be wearing my mask and gloves when I am super close contact with that client."
The Makeup BLVD team is currently booking clients, and they are also hiring! Professional makeup artists that are interested in the new business model can contact Makeup BLVD via social media here.
Also preparing for changes, is the in-store experience in beauty retail stores. As ABC News' Good Morning America reports, big beauty retail stores like Sephora and Ulta will ban the use of testers to prevent the spread of bacteria.
Will the beauty retail industry ever return to the in-store experience that existed before the coronavirus outbreak? Dr. Kristi Hawley, a dermatologist at The Derm Institute of West Michigan says she's surprised that testers have been used in-stores for as long as they have considering their bacterial contamination.
“I am very personally relived that now the community doesn’t have to be exposed to different bacteria," says Dr. Hawley. "I think it will take a long time for the testers to come back. I think they’ll find new creative ways like maybe packaging individual testers -- which would be wonderful and safe for everyone. The downside to that is that’s going to cost companies a lot more money and I think we’ll end up paying for that.”
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