Here to stay: Pandemic forges new future at Charleroi salon
Courtesy of Ashley Shannon Photography
From left, front, are Haley Hritz, Susan Jo Johnson, Janel Peffer, back, Lauren Somers, Paige Svesnik and Yvonne Sabatula
Courtesy of Ashley Shannon Photography
From left, are Lauren Somers, Haley Hritz, Paige Svesnik, Susan Jo Johnson, Janel Peffer and Yvonne Sabatula
Holly Tonini
Paige Svesnik sections out hair on her customer, Jennifer Dudzinski of Belle Vernon, inside Susan Jo’s Salon in Charleroi.
Holly Tonini
Paige Svesnik sections out hair on her customer, Jennifer Dudzinski of Belle Vernon, inside Susan Jo’s Salon in Charleroi.
Susan Johnson, owner of Susan Jo Salon in Charleroi, applies color to the hair of her customer, Cindy Murphy of Fallowfield Township
Holly Tonini
Susan Johnson, owner of Susan Jo Salon in Charleroi, applies color to the hair of her customer, Cindy Murphy of Fallowfield Township.
By Francesca Sacco
Something interesting is happening at Susan Jo’s Salon in Charleroi. After 25 years as the sole business owner, Susan Jo Johnson has decided to take on a partner.
“There’s a time for everything, and this is my time,” Johnson, who’s been a hairstylist for the last 52 years, said. “This is my way of cutting back and letting go.”
In the spring, friend and colleague Paige Svesnik reached out to Johnson for advice. She needed guidance about a career decision and fast.
“I worked at Salon Eye Candy from 2012 until it closed this year,” Svesnik said. “We were given a week’s notice that the owner decided to close. We hadn’t worked the three months prior to the salon closing because of the pandemic. I had always contemplated opening my own business, but it never felt like the right time. But I either had to open something, or I didn’t have a job.”
Unable to financially commit to starting something independently, Svesnik decided to take Johnson up on a long-standing offer.
“We’ve always been close,” she said of Johnson. “I had mentioned the idea of starting my own salon and she mentioned that she was considering retiring. She said I’d always have a place at Susan Jo’s, and this time I jumped on it.”
With a little bit of planning, the pair devised a business plan that suits both their needs. Svesnik has been renting the front half of the salon since June and manages her own clients and four other stylists she brought along from Salon Eye Candy. Johnson sees her own clients in the back half of the salon. They help each other when needed, offer one another support and share techniques. Both stylists operate under the name Susan Jo’s Salon.
Johnson wanted to change the salon’s name to incorporate both women, but Svesnik wouldn’t hear it.
“Paige said, don’t touch that name,” Johnson said. “Susan Jo’s is a brand now, not just you. She’s carrying on the name and that’s really sweet that she would want to do that.”
Svesnik has completely renovated her part of the salon, replacing Johnson’s greys and black with bright colors and funky patterns.
“It needed a facelift,” Johnson said of her former space. “It’s really cool. She calls it ‘boho.'”
Currently, Susan Jo’s Salon, located at 706 Fallowfield Ave., follows state guidelines for health, safety and sanitation, but even with a capacity limitation, Svesnik’s business is thriving.
“This is best thing that has ever happened,” she said of her partnership with Johnson. “2020 was a difficult year, but I can’t say anything bad about what has happened to me. I’m in a place that I’ve always wanted to be in.”
Johnson is also thrilled.
“It has been a great thing for me to be around young hairstylists with great ideas,” she said. “I’ve stepped back. I only do what I want to do. I’m at the point in my life where I wanted to be happy and stress free. I’m ready to enjoy myself.”
While Johnson is toying with the idea of retiring – she said she has a three-year plan to transition out of the business, but Svesnik doesn’t believe her – Svesnik is looking towards the future. She hopes to purchase the salon when Johnson decides it time to move on and is interested in building relationships with other small businesses in town.
“I’m trying to support other small business with ours,” she said. “I’m trying to do whatever we can to bring the community back together.”
Johnson has no doubt Svesnik will be successful. She noted that while people are struggling, Svesnik has “been doing all she can.”
“She’s very energetic,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure what her plan is for the future, but she can do whatever she wants. I know she would love to buy up buildings and expand.”
If nothing else, Susan Jo’s Salon is here to stay.
“I want Susan Jo’s Salon to go on another 25 years,” Svesnik said.