New management at McKinnon salon as owners retire after 40 years
The owners of McKinnon Hair Design are retiring and passing the scissors on to two longtime employees.
Christine and Andrew McKinnon opened the hair salon four decades ago at the corner of Main Street East and Balsam Avenue South near Gage Park - the 40th anniversary was April 12.
The duo were backing away slowly just before the pandemic," said new co-owner Cathy Simpson.
But it was hard for mom and dad" to leave the business for good, she said. You do it because you love it and you don't really retire from something you love."
COVID changed all that. The McKinnons really never came back after that first shutdown," Simpson said, other than to help out.
Now, Simpson and co-owner Rosanna Morganti are taking over the business and the McKinnon name, with a slight tweak - McKinnon Hair Design is becoming McKinnonHD.
The two have big shoes to fill as Christine and Andrew are quite well-loved still by all of our clients," Simpson says.
Longtime customers have said Andy used to do my highlights, that's how you're going to do them right?" or I wish you could cut my hair exactly like Chris used to cut my hair," according to Simpson. But of course everyone has different hands so maybe I'll do it a little bit differently, but maybe (they'll) like it too," she added.
Beyond the slight name change, modernization, for Simpson, also means becoming more conscious of how the salon and the industry are affecting the environment.
And though some things are changing at the salon, much is staying the same.
Only one team member is leaving. One co-worker who has been at the salon for 15 years is staying. Two decade-long co-workers are on maternity leave, but plan to return. Both Simpson and Morganti have been at the salon for seven or eight years, and both have about 20 years of experience in the industry. They plan to hire one more full-time staff member.
Instead of keeping the co-workers apart, Simpson said, the pandemic kept them together, like salon sisters."
Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com