A year ago at the grand opening of the Grand Junction Community Center, organizer Diane Wise called it “the catalyst for future improvements, a new face on Main Street and a reason to keep moving forward.”
The next step in the reclamation of Grand Junction’s Main Street opened two weeks ago – Jagged Edge Salon, owned and operated by Amber Richards in a renovated 1884 building that most recently was Don’s Barbershop.
Richards and her husband Jeremy purchased the building, gutted it, and started over again to create contemporary space. That included putting in a floor in the back of the building where the floor had been dirt all these decades. Replacing the old roof with a new peaked roof created useable space on a second floor.
Richards is a native of northeast Iowa. She and her four children moved to Grand Junction 15 years ago. At the time, she was working as a CNA and then as a certified medication aide. She left her fulltime job in 2010 to realize her original career plan to be a cosmetologist. She attended PCI in Ames and graduated in 2012, the same year her oldest daughter graduated from high school.
Buying a building in Grand Junction wasn’t part of her plan. “I went to buy a car from a guy here and he asked if I wanted to buy a building, too. I talked with my husband about it, and it was when we were all waiting to see if Wild Rose would get a license for a casino in Jefferson,” Richards said. “We decided that if that license happened, it was a sign that we should buy the building, that the population would grow and I should open my own salon.”
They were on vacation on the day in June, 2014, when the IRGC met in Burlington and made its decision. “We had a friend who was watching the live stream for us and then texting us minute by minute. We were in on the suspense of that along with everyone else,” she said.
It took 2-1/2 years to renovate the building, with the couple doing much of the work themselves.
Richards is familiar with daunting tasks. Just five months after starting her cosmetology career at a salon in Boone she was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of breast cancer. She worked part-time while going through a round of high dose chemotherapy, followed by a longer round of low dose chemo and then radiation.
Richards said she’s been told since she was 16 that she resembles Julia Roberts. Of all Roberts’ roles, Richards most resembles the spunky Erin Brockovich. She proudly says she graduated at the top of her class at PCI and received six of eight awards given, even with four children at home. “I left a fulltime job with benefits to go to school. I was highly motivated to learn everything I could,” she said.
At Jagged Edge Salon, Richards offers a full range of services including cuts, colors, perms, chemical straightening, shampoo and sets, shampoo and straightening, and waxing “from head to toe.” She welcomes all ages.
As an entrepreneur she has full control over her business. She’s working solo at the time, and with only one chair in the salon. There are few distractions. “When you sit in my chair it’s all about you. I’ll take the extra time to be sure you’re getting what you want, and that you know how to style your hair when you leave,” she said.
Her business name – Jagged Edge Salon – comes from her love of the “choppy-looking cuts” she accomplished with a razor. She has always enjoyed being “different,” but she doesn’t extend her version of “different” to her clients. “Your hair should fit your personality,” she said, but added, “I like to help people find their edge. At Jagged Edge, I want everyone to feel they can be who they are, to have their own identity.”
About bringing new growth to her community, Richards says many of her clients from the Boone salon are now coming to Jagged Edge. Several have told her they had never been to Grand Junction, and she suspects they’re purchasing gas of soda before heading back home.
She knows she took a chance on opening a business in Grand Junction. “I’m hoping, always hoping someone else will try to do something here,” she said. “My fingers are crossed I can grow my client list and draw people to this place I call home.”
Jagged Edge Salon is open Monday through Friday from 9 am until appointments are finished. Richards is willing to work evenings to accommodate her clients’ work schedules. She can be reached at 515-238-0521. Jagged Edge Salon is located at 306 Main Street East, two blocks east of the community center.
