Business & Tech

West Nyack Woman Opens Irish Hair Salon (VIDEO)

West Nyack Resident Anita Maher chose to name her new establishment Gruaig, which means 'hair' in Irish

 

What used to be a garage for an ambulance corps is now an upscale hair salon on Main Street in Nanuet. 

Anita Maher of West Nyack opened up Gruaig, which means ‘hair’ in Irish, back in December. She replaces the Nanuet Ambulance Corps in the familiar brick building. Nanuet EMS had relocated to a bigger place not too far south of their original spot

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“This is something I always wanted to do. I wanted to do a 5th Avenue style with reasonable pricing,” she said. “The experience without the price.”

When you walk in, the contrasting black and white is modern and bold, and compliments the straight-edged and sleek theme she carries throughout, from the lobby furniture and shelves to the salon chairs and square recessed lighting.

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But there’s a feminine touch to cut the silver and monochromatic colors: her unique chandeliers and teacups and saucers.

“We offer refreshments and cookies, wine, coffee and tea, served in china cups, which is important because I’m Irish,” she said. Her roots was the main reason for the name choice. “We had a lot of walk ins from people who knew it was an Irish name.”

Although she’s new, she’s been busy. One of her stylists, Kristina Zefi, came from another salon and she had a large following.

“It’s a very busy street and at nighttime, a lot of people look in because of the modern lighting.”

Her salon features two color stations, five cutting stations and two hair wash stations. There’s also a bathroom and a private staff kitchen in the back, both of which follow the color scheme and design of the rest.

Her European stylists are versatile and in her lobby is a line of products she trusts, such as Moroccan Oil, Paul Mitchell, Big Sexy Hair and Goldwell.

“I will be offering free treatments to my clients in the future and monthly specials,” she said. She also offers her clients a family friendly establishment. Got young kids? Gruaig has you covered with an Xbox360 set up to the large flat screen TV in their lobby.

“Now, I’ve noticed that the kids ask to come along so they can play Xbox,” said Maher with a chuckle.

This was a big life change for Maher.

“I worked in construction with my husband before this,” she said. “My husband and I, we did most of the work ourselves. It was just a parking garage before with concrete floors and walls. This was a major construction and took us nearly nine months. For the chandeliers, I did a lot of shopping and wanted something modern and sleek. We had an architect design the ceiling coves and the square pockets of lighting,”

Maher put a lot of work into transforming the interior and exterior and hopes neighboring businesses do the same.

"I’m hoping for a revitalization of Nanuet and that the buildings will take on more incentive to clean themselves up,” she said. “I’m excited that the new mall is opening up here bringing something fresh to the neighborhood.”

Gruaig Hair Studio

202 Main Street, Nanuet

845 623 6200


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