Profile: Brandy's 97 Main Salon

has been in Charlotte Kelley's family since 1975. Opened by Kelley's sister Brandy, who passed away in 1980 at 30 years old from a brain anuerysm, the salon transferred over her and has moved from Tucker to Stone Mountain and now to Lilburn. The salon offers full services to its patrons including haircuts and styling, coloring, waxing and electrolysis. I recently sat down with Charlotte to talk about her business.

Patch: Tell me a little about the history of the salon.

Charlotte: My sister Brandy opened the salon in 1975 and I was her silent partner. She passed away in 1980 from a brain anuerysm when she was 30. My mom wanted me to keep the business and at first I didn't really want to but I thought OK I'd keep it for a while. The longer I kept it the more people became involved. My other sister Sara was in school so she does hair and Brandy's daughter that I've raised since she was seven went to college and has an accounting degree but has always wanted to do hair. I will give the salon to her when she becomes older.

Patch: What's the best aspect of owning a hair salon?

Charlotte:  Oh it's the people, definitely the people. You meet all sorts of people and you find out about their husbands and their wives and their children and their grandchildren and their travels. It's just like a big family.

Patch: What's the most challenging aspect of owning a salon?

Charlotte: The expense of a salon is high. Insurance is super expensive, rent is outrageous, supplies go up up up and you don't want to bring your prices up to the equivalent to that because it is people that you're aquainted with and people that you know. They can't spend $75 to $100 for a haircut so we want to stay in a family price range so it's difficult to keep a happy medium.

Patch: What makes Brandy's Salon unique?

Charlotte: I think the fact that we're family, my sister is here, my niece is here, I'm here. We came from Brandy and we don't want anybody to forget her. It makes us different from anybody else and it gives us a reason to hang in there. If something is happening it gives us a reason to keep going because of that. There are people to this day that remember our sister.

Patch: What makes the Lilburn community special?

Charlotte: There are wonderful people here. There are people that have been here forever. There's so much history in this little town. We have people that pop in off the street and say hey how are you. There's a different atmosphere here that you don't get in say a shopping center. There's a closeness and it's nice to be a part of something that you feel that you're appreciated.

Brandy's 97 Main Salon is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and later by appointment only.