THE owner of the only hairdressing salon in Ouyen is holding out hope she will be able to find a buyer for the business she has had on the market for five years.
Catherine Phillips said she was dedicated to her customers and didn’t want to leave the town until she found someone to take over.
The salon was “flat out,” she said, with appointments booked more than a week in advance, and 19 customers — many in their 80s and 90s — who came in every week.
“I love them like grandparents,” Ms Phillips said. “I don’t want to let them down.”
At $130,000 for the building and business on Ouyen’s main street, the price was “cheap as chips”.
“It’s a great town,” she said. “You can start a life here, but not many people think so.
“I’ve had interest from people in Melbourne. But no one has committed to buy.”
In recent years, young Ouyen natives had been returning to live in the town to build and buy houses, but “none of them are hairdressers, unfortunately”.
Ms Phillips said there was enough demand for the business to open every day of the week, but it was open only Tuesday to Friday at the moment due to a staff shortage.
She works as a hairdresser in aged care and for customers in home care, in addition to running the business during the week.
She has one part-time staff member and has struggled to recruit other staff.
“I’ve trained five apprentices to get qualifications through the business but they have left town or changed trades,” she said.
The salon was a hub in the small town and a “social gathering place”.
Her customers were “my bread and butter, but they are also like family”.
With her children away at university, Ms Phillips hopes to one day buy a van and travel Australia.
Selling the business would be “a load off”, she said.
