Shoemaker makes customer service a top priority

Tami Shoemaker has been working as a hairstylist for 35 years, the last 15 as the owner of The New York Hair Affair in Holton, and she offers one piece of advice for those who want to follow a similar path. 

“Customer service first. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Always be honest and fair,” Shoemaker said. “If you’re good to people, they’ll be good to you. People can go anywhere to get a haircut, but it’s that personal relationship that I think people long for. When they come into your salon, it’s their time.”

Shoemaker grew up in south central Pennsylvania and said she knew from a young age that she wanted to be a hairstylist. 

“As early as I can remember, probably four years old, I always wanted to do hair,” she said. “It all started with a Barbie head. It’s just something I knew I wanted to do.”

After graduating high school, she went to beauty school full time while working part time. She also earned a manager’s license while in beauty school. 

“I knew that I wanted to own my own business,” she said. “You had to have a manager’s license to become a salon owner.”

Her first hairstylist job was working for Holiday Hair, which is a chain salon.

“That was a great way to get started,” she said. 

About a year and a half later, she began managing a different salon that had 11 stylists. Through the years, she managed two other salons before her family relocated 18 years ago to Holton due to her husband’s job. 

After moving to Holton, she worked at Country Cabin for Sue LaMastus for about a year and a half before opening The New York Hair Affair at 433 New York Ave. on the west side of the Holton Square. 

“It has been absolutely amazing,” she said of opening the salon. “I have the best clients in the world. I really do. They aren’t just customers, they’re family. They’ve been very good to me. We love Holton. It’s our home. It’s where we want to be.”

In her long career, Shoemaker said she’s seen hair styles and trends come and go. 

“Everything that goes around comes around. When I first started doing hair, I was doing wash and sets for $4 and haircuts were $7,” she said. “The big thing when I first started doing hair was perms. Just as I was getting started, hair coloring was becoming more popular. But we didn’t have foils like we do now so we were pulling hair through caps.”

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