Newfie Style Hair Cutters opens at 372 Queen Street East, Acton
Tina Dwyer’s shop “Newfie Style” is a token for the Newfie community with Acton and Tina could not be happier with the sense of support she has found from locals. Tina, originally from Newfoundland moved to Ontario in 1985.
When Tina started out in Acton, she was working for her beloved friend Miriam who owned at the time, “First Choice Hair Salons” in Acton. “When I first started working with Miriam, a lot of Newfies would come in. There is a huge Newfoundland community here in Acton, it’s great.”
Tina felt an overwhelming sense of community in Acton with all of her fellow Newfies around, she expresses the difficult past she had due to her beloved brother passing away of a brain tumour some years ago.
“Last summer, I went back to Newfoundland and I never thought I’d go back after I lost my brother. Miriam came with me and we went together to visit home. Then one day Miriam calls me and says I need to get back to work because I hadn’t worked for some time. I asked her why I should go back and she told me the girls who were running her salon (First Choice) were running it into the ground.”
Tina returned back to the salon and found resignation notes from the previous girls running the salon. “We weren’t doing well at that time,” comments Tina, “we were only getting about four or five customers a day.” The salon's lease was up in a month and Miriam was concerned for the future of her salon. “I offered to help pay for the rent,” Tina remarks, “Miriam was happy to hear I could help. So I stayed and worked at the salon…when I started we would only have about four customers a day, but then those customers kept coming back.”
According to Tina, many of the customers that came to the salon were from Newfoundland, had family there, or had neighbours or friends that were Newfies. Miriam still wanted to close the salon, but Tina protested and encouraged her friend to continue her business.
“Miriam still wanted to close the shop, but she told me I should open my own shop instead. But I didn’t want it to be a First Choice Salon. I wasn’t sure what to call my salon, but I knew I wanted my culture in it. I wanted Newfoundland to be a part of it, so I sat down with my friends and I decided to call it ‘Newfie Style Haircutters’.”
Business for Tina has been nothing short of wonderful, just last week she had performed 106 hair cuts, which is an extreme difference from the once four cuts a day the salon was seeing. Now, Miriam owns a “First Choice Salon” in Georgetown and Tina runs Newfie Style in Acton. “I owe everything to Miriam, she gave me a home.”
Miriam and Tina live together in the same home, “Miriam let me live in her house, she has the top floor and I the bottom. We are competitors living in the same house, but we are best friends! We’re conjoined at the hip.”
The Acton community has been extremely supportive and receptive to Newfie Style and Tina is extremely thankful. Tina comments, “Everybody that comes in there and sits in my chair leaves with a smile and if I can have a customer leaving with a smile then I’ve done my job.”
Tina also serves coffee at her salon and according to Tina, sometimes people come by just for a coffee, “people like to come for a chat.” Tina and her salon make the cut in Acton and the locals are extremely excited to see what more is to come from Tina and Newfie Style.
There are other stylists at the salon along side Tina named Sam and Deb who are also both dedicated hairdressers. Newfie Style is on a roll with its success and as Tina puts it, “there is nowhere but up from here.”
Newfie Style Hair Cutters will be having their official grand opening at sometime in June.
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