'It feels like home' - Beauty Bazaar hair salon moves to West Main Street

The Beauty Bazaar has found a new place to call its own — one that will offer more convenient parking and in a facility housing multiple business geared toward self care.The Maple City Professional Building, 269 W. Main St., offers a gymn, acupuncture, mesotherapy, counseling and more, and can now boast a well-established beauty salon. Beauty Bazaar, which opened in 1997, officially moved into the space March 5 and owner Tonya Good-Huering said it's perfect and is "a great fit."The move came about a year into Good-Huering's solo ownership after her mother, Barb Good, stepped away from the business to retire. A client, Jeff Colvin, approached Good-Huering, letting her know he had an open space in the professional building and was available for her to rent if she wanted. The new location offers about the same amount of space as the salon's previous location at 55 Benedict Ave."So we made the move and we love it here," Good-Huering said. "It was getting quite crowded down where we were. Our elderly (clients) were having a hard time getting in and finding parking spots. Out here we have 57 parking spaces. It might be a little bit more of a walk, but at least there's a spot. That was huge."And what's better is with the other businesses housed in the complex, Good-Huering, who has been doing hair for 30 years, said she feels like "it feels like home.""(Colvin) wanted to have this be like a wellness center," Bazaar stylist Chris Baker said. "I think he's achieved it. He said he felt like adding a salon was a good fit and so far it has been."Baker went to hair school with Good-Huering's mother and worked with the family in the industry. Baker then went on to enter a partnership in Christian Roberts Salon & Spa and opened a couple different salons over the years, including most recently Profiles Salon. After closing Profiles, Baker said running a salon was "a lot to manage," so he decided to join the Beauty Bazaar team.Good-Huering, along with Baker and stylist Hannah Koegle, make up the "family" that many have come to know and love. "This is just a great group, as far as everybody has the same attitude about wanting to be kind, wanting to offer good services," Baker said. "We're a good fit for each other. We're such a good fit; it's hard to find that. But it all starts with (Good-Huering) because she is just awesome. She is one of the kindest-hearted people ... Her glass is always half-full. She's like a daughter to me."The salon owner said the close bond involving her and her staff adds to the salon's offerings — cuts, color, perms, shellac and more. When asked what sets Beauty Bazaar apart from the other local salons, Good-Huering isn't afraid to sing its praises."We're the best," she said. Driving school opens in NorwalkThere is a new driving school in Norwalk. And it couldn't have come at a better time.Robin and Mark Arnold operate American Driving School LLC. The couple purchased the business last year with locations in Sandusky and Port Clinton."Shortly before we had bought the driving schools, the Norwalk community lost (the) Norwalk Driving School," Robin Arnold said. "It was a goal of ours from the beginning to bring this service back to Norwalk. And we were happy to be able to do so as quickly as we have. We have recently accomplished that goal and are now open in Norwalk."The school just finished its first class and had another one start Feb. 18. It is located at 134 Cleveland Road, Suite A.Rand Pullano founded American Driving School in 1980 in Sandusky High School. In 1988, he moved it to 910 E. Perkins Ave. The original school still operates in that location today.Over the years, American Driving School expanded to include the Port Clinton.Rand retired in 2006, selling the company to Scott Bunn, who in turn sold the company to the Arnolds last year."We developed a great relationship with Rand and brought him back into the business along with retaining Scott in the training manager role," Robin Arnold said. "Both have provided great historical detail of the business and knowledge to us in building a successful business model while updating to current standards."In keeping with tradition, we offer in class drivers education for teens, abbreviated adult-driver classes for first-time licensees over the age of 18 and remedial classes and juvenile improvement classes to those who are required to take them. Since becoming the owners, we have partnered with an online provider for the classroom portion of driver education. For those who cannot attend the traditional classroom program, this is a great new tool. Their link can be found on our website at www.americandrivingschool.org." Wilcox wins producer awardAnnette Wilcox, broker/owner of Century 21 Wilcox & Associates recently was recognized with the Century 21 Quality Service Pinnacle Producer Award."The Quality Service Pinnacle Producer Award is an integral part of our brand's commitment to excellence and recognizes Annette's dedication to making each and every client interaction a positive one," said Michael Miedler, president and chief executive officer, Century 21 Real Estate LLC.The annual award is based on results from the CENTURY 21 Quality Service Survey (QSS) which is e-mailed to consumers immediately after the purchase or sale of a home. To earn the award, an agent must receive completed customer surveys for at least 50 percent of their transactions surveyed from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 with an average survey score of at least 95 percent or better for two consecutive years.Wilcox will receive a customized glass trophy, in addition to being recognized at the CENTURY 21 Global Conference. Sandusky's J.C. Penney safe from nationwide closuresPERKINS TWP. — One of the mall's first tenants will survive the recent shuttering announced by the department store's corporate office.J.C. Penney in the Sandusky Mall won't be among the recently announced closures, said Dana Harrington, a spokeswoman for the corporate office of the Texas-based department store chain.It plans to close 18 full-line stores in the second quarter of 2019 after a financially strained 2018. The closing stores are ones that underperformed in sales, required significant capital to operate or pose a chance to monetize a valuable retail asset, Harrington said.Cafaro Co., the mall's owners, said it had little doubt the Sandusky location would be saved from the chopping block."We were pretty confident it was going to be safe," Cafaro spokesman Joe Bell said. "It's in a good location and does good business."J.C. Penney was the first store to open in the mall in 1976 and is the last remaining anchor store with Books-a-Million after the closures of Sears, Macy's and Elder-Beerman."We have a good relationship with J.C. Penney," Bell said. "It's been a part of the community for a long time and we think it's doing everything right for a retailer in this day and age. We look forward to our continued partnership in Sandusky."Brick-and-mortar retailers have had a difficult start to 2019 as Crazy 8, Payless ShoeSource and Andrews Jewelers have all filed bankruptcy and are in the liquidation process to close all of its stores.The parent companies for Osterman Jewelers and Yankee Candle both decided to pare down on locations, including the ones in the Sandusky Mall.Earlier this month, the owner of Victoria's Secret, Columbus-based L Brands, announced it plans to close about 53 of its lingerie stores. A list of locations hasn't been released."We are aware of the fact they're paring down stores nationwide, but we haven't heard from them that they have any change of plans for the Sandusky location," Bell said. "It's been business as usual."EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael Harrington of Tandem Media Network contributed to this story. Firelands wins cancer awareness awardSANDUSKY — Firelands Regional Medical Center's marketing and communications department recently won two gold awards from the Cancer Awareness Advertising Award group for its Warrior Women campaign that ran in the fall of 2018. The department received a gold for the billboard series and a gold for the Empower Blog.The Cancer Awareness Advertising Awards (CAA Awards) is an annual contest allowing entries that were created, printed and/or distributed the previous year to be scored, judged and potentially recognized on a national level for excellence in cancer awareness marketing and advertising. The CAA Awards is the nation's most elite competition dedicated solely to the promotion of all cancer related products and/or services. Winning entries are judged and scored by a diverse panel of experts. Judge's Choice trophies, as well as gold, silver and bronze certificates are granted to winning entries exemplifying excellence in cancer specific service lines.The goal for this campaign was to bring attention to breast cancer through real-life stories from some of the women in our community which it effects. The local women shared their stories of success, and defeat, while bringing attention to the fact that our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends are all susceptible to the disease. The campaign focused on the important of self-examination and regular annual visits to your physician."This award doesn't belong to us; it belongs to the courageous women who shared their stories with us," said Alexandria Cruey, Firelands marketing and communications director. "We are so honored that these women allowed us to use their journey to help educate other women on the importance of self-exams and getting screened yearly." If you have an item for the business roundup column, send the information to the Norwalk Reflector in care of Zoe Greszler, 61 E. Monroe St., Norwalk, Ohio 44857, or email it to zoegreszler@norwalkreflector.com.Tonya Good-Huering (far right) recently moved her salon, Beauty Bazaar, from Benedict Avenue to 269 W. Main St. in Norwalk. She and her stylists Hannah Koegle (left) and Chris Baker stand in the new salon space about a week after officially opening the new location. Wilcox