The last 12 months has been a bit ‘ruff’ for hair salons but one Kirkheaton hairstylist is really turning heads.
Kristie Greaves opened Kristie@No3 in Heaton Moor Road last July but found her anonymous little shop went unnoticed.
Even though it’s slap bang in the centre of the village the shop just didn’t stand out – until Kristie enlisted doggy power!
Kristie hired French-born artist Jenny Tribillon to paint a mural across her shopfront and suddenly her little salon was the talk of the village.
Kristie’s family have no fewer than SIX rescued basset hounds and all six feature on the mural.
“I think it’s truly amazing,” said Kristie. “I just keep going outside to look at it. I love my salon, it was my dream. And I love my dogs. People say the mural is me all over.”
Kristie, 30, lives with mum Kirsten Storrie, stepdad David and brother Henry, 13. Oh, and bassets Daphne, seven, Stanley, six, Mr Boggy, four, Gino, four, Dottie, four, and Gertrude, three.
“It was about five years ago we got our first rescue from the Dogs Trust and then we got three more. We were going to stop at four but we were contacted about the sister of Mr Boggy and Gino and then the sixth one, Gertrude, came into a rescue centre in Doncaster with cigarette burns and we couldn’t say no.”
The family are basset crazy and Kristie said: “They are so unique. They have individual characters and can be very stubborn but you can’t help but love them. All the dogs are as daft as each other!”
Kristie is a member of a basset hound group which arrange meets – called ‘waddles’ – and she said: “There’s nothing like going home to waggy tails after a busy day.”
If the bassets cheer people up so has the mural and the dog-friendly salon has been busy.
“I always wanted to open my own salon but it was never the right time,” said Kristie. “I never had much confidence and never thought I was good enough to have my own place.
“When we saw the salon it was rundown and old-fashioned but I just decided to go for it. The worst thing that could happen was that I had to go and get another job if it didn’t work out.”
The family got to work, and Kristie’s brother Charlie and his partner Sarah Smith got stuck in.
Kristie opened last July in the middle of the pandemic and she’s been closed for half of the last 11 months but the business has taken off.
The idea for the mural came from Kristie but artist Jenny surpassed all her expectations with the final design, which took four-and-a-half hours to complete.
The image even includes the popular village shop Costcutter across the road run by Kristie’s landlords Steve and Sonia Singh.
“I just think it’s brilliant,” said Kristie. “And everyone in the village seems to agree.”
