Name: Gemma Holt

Business name: Lily's Beauty Salon

Opening Times: We are open Monday, closed Tuesday and then Wednesday through to Saturday 9am to 5pm and a late night opening on Wednesday and Thursday till 7pm.

Why this location?

We used to be down Green End but we found that we needed a change.

We moved up here in 2019 and we love it up the high street.

The high street has become really bustling.

There are a lot of unique and independent stores on the high street and we have formed a bit of a community.

It is lovely, there is a lot of footfall.

We like the parking immediately outside, we have got the pay and display car parks round the corner and it is just really handy.

We like that we are up here and the building is quaint and quirky.

We have got the exposed beams and that kind of thing.

Everyone is shocked when they come through because they don't expect it to be as big as it is from the high street.

It goes up four floors and we have two treatment rooms upstairs.

We have a bathroom and pedicure room at the back and staff room and an office.

So, it is a bit of a rabbit warren really so we really like this building.

Tell us about your business?

We opened eight years ago with the intention of providing luxury customer service alongside quality beauty treatments.

We did not want to be just like a one off walk in walk out, very transactional service.

We place a big focus on quality products, quality treatments, really great customer service and we managed over the eight years to have retained a really loyal client base.

We do nails, holistic treatments, massage, facials, reflexology and pedicures, that kind of thing.

We are always looking into new treatments as well that we think our clients would like.

Prom season, that's been and gone and been really hectic for us.

We have now got the ladies coming in because they are going on their summer holidays.

We do open between Christmas and New Year to ensure we get those clients in who want things doing before New Year as well.

Easter is another big one.

We find a lot of the occasions of the year do make us very busy.

On Valentine's Day, you get a lot of partners coming in to treat their loved ones, so it is nice and busy.

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What has been your proudest moment so far?

I think winning the Professional Beauty Award because I had always aspired to win it.

It was always the most prominent award that I could win and to be acknowledged and recognised within the industry.

The year we won that was definitely a peak in my career because it was everything that I had aspired to do.

I set the salon up with the mission of one day being recognised at those awards and I am really excited for the avenues that it is going to open for me.

To be shortlisted is one thing, we have been shortlisted several years running but to actually win it up against such fantastic competitors, it was a huge accolade.

Covid-19 made everybody get really creative and obviously the beauty industry was affected immensely.

With it being such a one-on-one service and being in close proximity to the client, you had to get really creative.

We developed our web-shop throughout Covid-19, so we were able to sell things to our clients.

We developed social media in ways we have never bothered to before and never had to, as a way of keeping in touch with our clients and maintaining that relationship.

I think it changed businesses for the better because we found, there was more than one way to work and now you've got this repertoire of skills and tools you develop in order to enhance your business.

You have to take a silver lining from it.

What has been your strangest request?

We get a lot of confusion about what we are.

You can get people ringing up for hair appointments all the time.

They don't get that we don't do hair.

We had some very strange nail art designs.

You come across so many different people on a daily basis, so many different tastes.

We do get a lot which maybe isn't to our taste but you respect the client's wishes and do your best for them.