After years of running a successful salon in Williamsville, SMITH + CO HAIRDRESSING owners Jennifer and Shawn Smith decided it was time to realize their shared dream of relocating their operation to the City of Buffalo. The space they found was the long-time home of Avenue Art & Frame, which had recently become available following the owner’s retirement. Their new location would be located along Delaware Ave in the heart of the Allentown neighborhood in a beautiful Art Deco building. The Smiths worked with the building’s fellow tenants Schneider Real Estate Services and Schneider Architectural Services to transform the 2,000 sq. ft. space from an aging and outdated storefront into a sleek and sophisticated full-service hairdressing salon.
Before the Smith’s could bring their ambitious vision for the modern urban salon to fruition, the Schneider architects had to dig into a space that had not undergone any significant upgrades or updates in almost 20 years. Once the architects understood the Smith’s space needs–which called for eight styling stations, three rinse stations, and a window-front lounge area for clients–they then were able to design a reconfigured floor plan. What was once a space that used walls and entryways to divide retail from production space, gave way to an opened up floor plan the flowed from front to back. With no more physical barriers light now streamed in from the storefront’s great Delaware Ave windows all the way to the back of the building.
Schneider Architectural Services also had to revamp the space’s entire mechanical system and devise ways to ensure that the busy salon’s water needs would be met. The new salon was also made fully ADA compliant. All of this proved particularly challenging due to the space’s small size – with little room to work and a limited build out budget, very careful decisions had to be made to ensure the project did not go over budget and that all of the Smith’s business needs could be met.
Once the architects had the structure of the space fully designed, Schneider Construction Services took over to implement the architect’s designs. In short order, the construction team delivered a cleaned out, reconfigured vanilla box to the Smiths. It was then that the Smith’s took over and implemented their interior design vision with high end finishes and sophisticated design motifs that echoed the building’s Art Deco architecture.
