23 Jan Celebrating 29 Years of Business in Belair-Edison
Full-service hair salon connects with customers
In November 2017, business owner Chandra Pinder celebrated a major milestone of 29 years of business success at the same location in Belair-Edison.
The secrets to her success with her Ultimate Performance Beauty Salon are many. Chandra provides a full range of services, including hair care conditioning, styling, and hot oil and hair loss treatments in a professional environment. But her real secret formula may be just how much she loves doing hair and connecting with her very loyal clientele.
“People are so stressed these days,” she says, adding that a lot of stylists today want to get clients in and out quickly. “I talk to all my clients,” she notes. “I look at their hair and I put 100% of myself into caring and service.”
She does all this with just one assistant, although she’s interviewing for two empty chairs in her salon. Anyone who joins her will have to have the right approach for her steadfast customer base.
Clients, who come from all over Baltimore, are used to her magic touch. They’re mostly professionals — educators, principals, nurses, doctors and retired businesspeople — and mostly women, although she works with a few men (including her dapper 87-year-old father). Her clients are so loyal that some have even written into their wills that she should do their hair when they pass away, so she has worked with funeral homes.
Chandra credits her family for her business ethic. Her parents were in business and as an only child, she always found herself in a professional environment, although she was careful not to go out on her own until she was ready.
Initially, Chandra worked at another salon 4 blocks down from her space for 10 years. When 3505 Belair Road opened, she jumped at the opportunity to open her own salon there. Her clients followed her there.
Initially renting the space, Chandra ultimately made the investment to buy the building, which includes two apartments upstairs from the salon. “I’m a landlord,” she smiles. She appreciates the marketing and outreach services Belair-Edison Neighborhoods, Inc. (BENI) has provided to help her attract good tenants.
Chandra has also benefitted from support from BENI and their Main Street program. She was able to receive two façade improvements for her building, including decorative window fronts and a new awning. In addition to providing mosaic planters in front of her building, BENI is now working with a local artist, Gregg Gannon, to finalize designs for a mural for the side of her building that will help beautify the alley just off the main street.
Chandra’s business is valued by the neighborhood, which named Ultimate Performance a Best of Belair-Edison Award winner. She says she is “grateful and humbled” to have owned and managed the salon for as long as she has.
To her, it’s no accident that there’s a church across the street from the salon. “I know God is my partner,” she says, as she contemplates the continued success of her business in Belair-Edison.
Ultimate Hair Performance
3505 Belair Rd
Baltimore, MD 21213
Hours:
Sunday – Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday – Saturday: 9:30AM–6:30PM