Member Article

Teesside Business Woman Open Salon and Skin Clinic In Wynyard Village Bringing Superyacht Luxury Experience to the Community

An entrepreneur from Teesside launched a Hair, Beauty & Skin business in Wynyard Village, Teesside’s luxury residential estate recently to provide residents and the local community with a first-class salon experience, and to unite clients through exclusive events.

Alice C.I’Anson Widdows, a local businesswoman, 48 launches Wynyard Therapy, a luxury Hair, Beauty, Skin & Wellness business with a focus on bringing exceptional salon experiences and experiential wellbeing events to the community.  

Widdows purchased the salon (previously Therapy Hair & Beauty Wynyard) in November 2022 with her husband Dr Nick Fleming B.D.S MSc Restorative/Aesthetic / PGCert Dental Implantology. 

Widdows has a background in the Superyacht industry and plans to rebuild the business by upgrading its services, launching wellness events and building on the support of its 3,000 strong client base and community. 

It had been an established salon for over 12 years, surviving the pandemic thanks to the support of the local community unlike so many other small beauty businesses. The relaunch has also created 8 new jobs, with people being employed from across the local community.

Wynyard Therapy is one of only 2,215 hair and beauty salons in the NE still in operation () . It is a small business providing jobs for the local community and employs 11 both full and part time staff.  It is important to Widdows that her team appreciate the benefits of working in a luxury business, that they feel appreciated and supported in their workplace and that they are accredited and confident to deliver exceptional treatments and services.  () (Office of National Statistics March 2022). 

A 2021 report by the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) identified the industry as one of the hardest hit by the UK’s pandemic lockdowns, with turnover falling by an average of 45% in 2020 compared to 2019. Salon capacity fell to 70% of its pre-pandemic level due to social distancing and enforced closures. 

In June 2023 its State of the Industry Survey found that only 45% of salons broke even and 25% of all beauty business owners were under the threat of closure due to the hike in energy costs and increased cost of trade supplies.  Widdows agrees that the past 11 months have been a challenging time for her business and has required a strong strategy to survive. The business relaunched in September as Wynyard Therapy : Hair I Beauty I Skin to introduce a larger fully accredited team, new services and luxurious rebrand. And the hard work is paying off with a 114% year-on-year growth in demand.   

The salon has also won three prestigious awards in 2023, Best Beauty Salon NE – Prestige Awards,  Best Beauty Experience NE (Stockton) – Lux Life Health, Beauty & Wellness Awards, Best Beauty Salon NE – Luxury Beauty Salon of the Year (Stockton) - SME News Northern Enterprise Awards. 

To mark the recent relaunch clients were invited to an experiential event in Wynyard Village.  “I believe that connection and community is key to health, happiness and wellbeing,” says Widdows.  The luxury hair, beauty, skin and wellness event opened with the unveiling of “Wisdom”,  the first in a series of contemporary energy art commissioned for the salon.

“This piece of specially commissioned Energy Art evolved over many months working with Alice. She holds softness from the soul, with alchemy of 23k gold leaf, that brings together the wisdom and experience we all hold throughout our entire lives,”  explained energy artist Nicki Hughes to the enchanted guests.

Widdows raised a glass to the room and thanked the team for their support during the transition noting that their continued professional development and accreditation has been her primary focus.   Guests enjoyed afternoon cocktails, followed by skin workshops, mini makeovers, demonstrations, live music and luxury treatments by official partners, global brands, L’Oreal Professional and O.P.I. (Wella). 

Wynyard Therapy’s new hair, beauty and skin services are up and running and the team spans hair stylists,  senior beauty therapists, dentists, dental therapists and professional injectors .  Treatments can be booked online or in salon.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .