Customers come first: Unisex salon opens in Marysville

The team at Chateau LaRose Salon in Marysville is ready to serve the community.
After eleven years of working for other people, Shelly LaRose finally has a salon to call her own.

Shelly and husband, John, opened Chateau LaRose Salon late last year in Marysville. For Shelly, it’s a chance to run her own shop. It's also an opportunity to get her husband into a different line of work, one less taxing on the body. John, a contractor by trade, runs the business side of things.

John put his construction skills to good use, though, transforming the storefront from a white box to a place befitting a salon. In addition to features typical of a salon, John also built Chateau LaRose a lounge, kitchen, and even a room that will one day house tanning beds.

The LaRoses offer services for women and men. Shelly takes a customer-comes-first approach, encouraging clients to bring three to five photos of their desired hairstyles. She then offers consultation services of what does and doesn’t work for a person’s particular hair type.

In addition to hair, the salon offers nail, pedicure, and make-up services.

"I want to bring customer service back. I feel like a lot of hairdressers don’t listen to their client’s needs," Shelly says.

"It all starts at the beginning with a consultation. That consultation is key to me."

They’ll even customize the music to cater to a client’s tastes.

Music is something the LaRoses know something about, too. The couple met in Nashville at one of John’s gigs with the band Kings In Pieces. John and fellow St. Clair County business owner James Pecor of St. Clair’s Black & Bleu BBQ were in the band, each meeting their future wives in Nashville and bringing them back to Michigan.

John says he’s happy being back in Michigan. He used to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood where the salon is today.

"When I lived in the south, I missed being close to a body of water. You don’t realize that you take it for granted," John says.

"There’s a comfort in knowing it’s right there."

Chateau LaRose Salon is located at 825 Michigan Ave. in Marysville.

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