Gene Juarez is coming to Gig Harbor. Here’s when you can visit for haircuts, skincare
A well-known Pacific Northwest hair salon and spa just expanded west of the Narrows.
Gene Juarez Salon and Spa opened Nov. 11 in Uptown Gig Harbor.
The location at 4779 Point Fosdick Dr. used to be Studio Six: The Salon and Spa, which closed in March.
Shortly after, Gene Juarez signed a lease for the space.
They’ll offer haircuts, styling, coloring, skin care facials and hydro facials, waxing, brow services and microblading.
The salon is open six days a week, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. It’s closed on Mondays.
Katie Trent is CEO of Gene Juarez Salons and Spas and Gene Juarez Academy. She told The News Tribune Friday: “We are definitely on a boutique scale at our Gig Harbor location.”
The space is 2,300 square feet, with 10 salon chairs and two skincare rooms. This is the company’s 11th location in the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s bright and open, with tall ceilings,” Trent said.
She described it as modern, but warm with midcentury accents. It has a similar aesthetic to the downtown Tacoma location, she said.
“We want people to know, whatever their goals are, we’re going to take care of them,” Trent said. “A place you can come in, feel relaxed, and leave feeling a little better than when you walked in.”
‘Bringing the blow dryer to Seattle’
Gene Juarez Salons have been around just over 50 years.
They’re named for founder Gene Juarez, who grew up in Eastern Washington. As a young adult he made the move to Seattle after receiving a scholarship for beauty school.
He also went through additional training in London at the Vidal Sassoon Academy.
“He came back and his kind of claim to fame was bringing the blow dryer to Seattle for the first time,” Trent said.
He was very focused on a more upscale, fashion forward, modern hair design, she said. In 1971 he opened the first Gene Juarez Salon in downtown Seattle.
“After it did so well, he expanded into Nordstrom and the Four Seasons,” Trent said.
Throughout the ‘80’s and ‘90s he opened salons in select malls, including the Tacoma Mall.
In 2008, Juarez decided to retire and sell his business to a private equity firm, which owned it for 10 years, she said.
The business was sold again to another private equity firm, Transom Capital Group, in 2018.
“That’s when we started talking about what we could do next with this brand,” she said.
Shifting away from malls
Trent said they found that customers were less and less likely to visit malls for services and shopping.
“We’ve really shifted our thinking, especially post COVID, into wanting to be part of a community,” she said.
They decided to leave the Tacoma Mall earlier this year. Before leaving the mall, the company asked its stylists where their clients were coming from. They said they had clients in Tacoma, Gig Harbor, University Place, and Fircrest.
The company looked for opportunities in those areas and landed on opening shops in downtown Tacoma and Uptown Gig Harbor.
“We have a very strong reputation for customer service and keeping people on trend,” Trent said.
Their downtown Tacoma location opened earlier this year. Trent said the response from clients making the journey to downtown Tacoma has been great, and that they’re excited for what’s to come at the Gig Harbor location.
