Beauty is how you Feel: Happy Nails
Pretty pink toes peek out from underneath sandals in the summer, and French manicures are no longer reserved only for brides—perfectly manicured nails adorn the fingers of all ages, from 5-year-olds to grandmothers.
However, as with any industry, businesses must continually add new products and follow the latest trends to keep customers coming back and attract new ones. Happy Nails in Topeka is doing this by adding 3D nail art to its service offerings.
Happy Nails operates under the leadership of four owners. Linh Le and her husband B, purchased Happy Nails from its previous owner in 2013, and then Jack Tran and Kelly Le joined as co-owners in 2018. The salon services include pedicures, manicures, acrylic nails, dipped nails, gel nails and nail designs.
When Linh and B bought the nail salon six years ago, it was in a state of decline. There were only three nail technicians working and business was stagnant, but Linh saw the potential and believed that with the right direction and leadership, the nail salon could thrive. Linh and B weighed the risks against the opportunity and decided to take a chance on a dream of a better life for themselves and their children. They pooled all of their savings and financial resources and bought the salon.
But that was only the beginning of the struggle. The salon was in serious need of a remodel to not only make it look more appealing to customers but to also improve efficiency and allow them to add more pedicure stations. They did a lot of the work themselves to save money, but the expenses added up. At first, they could barely pay rent because business was so slow. But their customer base slowly began to build. Loyal customers told their friends, who told their friends and the chairs started to fill.
“Our customers understood the work and effort we were putting into the salon to make it better,” Linh said. “We are eternally grateful to those loyal customers who stayed with us through every- thing. They truly played a big part in achieving this dream.”
The business was growing. Chairs were filling up. The future looked bright. And then tragedy struck.
On an extremely busy day at the salon, B did not show up when he was scheduled to work. He was never late. Linh tried calling him many times, but he did not answer. She had a bad feeling that something had gone terribly wrong because he would always answer her phone call. Linh dropped everything and rushed home to check on him. Just before reaching her house, she saw multiple ambulances surrounding a car that looked like B's car. Her heart sank into her stomach.
B had suffered a stroke as he was driving to work and had collided with another car. He was partially paralyzed from the waist up. His right hand, which is his dominant hand, was completely paralyzed.
While Linh was terrified for her husband’s health, she also had to worry about the business. Her husband, who was an integral part of the business and one of the most requested nail technicians at the salon, could not move his hand. The doctors told B to rest and let his body heal, but he could not stay away from the salon.;
“B is a very hard headed person,” Linh said with a smile. “I would tell him to stay home and rest, but he would still sneak into the store to help when I wasn’t paying attention.”
The doctors told him his hand would never be the same, but through hard work, determination and probably his hard headedness, B’s hand slowly regained feeling over time. After about a year of struggling and therapy, he regained about 60 percent of his dexterity—enough to where he could actually go back to working with clients.
As business continued to grow, Linh and B discovered that the demands of being business owners also grew. They were spending every day at the salon, sometimes late at night. While they were willing to make this sacrifice, they were also missing out on being with their children and attending their school events and other activities.
So they looked for a solution that would benefit everyone.
That solution was to bring on additional partners who could share the management load. They asked Jack and Kelly to help co-own the store to take some of that workload and let them spend more time with their children.
The four owners now work together to continually improve the services and customer experience at the salon. They now employ 14 nail technicians, including the owners, and the nail stations and pedicure chairs are rarely empty. All four owners credit the success of the business to chasing a dream and working hard, but most importantly to the relationships they have with their clientele.
“I can’t say thank you enough to people in Topeka for being there for us over the years,” Linh said. “I love Topeka and am proud to call it my home.”
Linh and B moved to Topeka 11 years ago, but with the love and support of clients, friends and the community, through all of their struggles, Linh says Topeka is home.
“I can’t say thank you enough to people in Topeka for being there for us over the years,” Linh said. “I love Topeka and am proud to call it my home.”
