Little Stars Hair Salon 4 Kids had its official grand opening on Sunday, with all the trappings kids love: a clown, balloons, face-painting, Halloween candy and gift bags.
Owners Ellen and Marina Skuratovsky have created a hair salon with a bright, colorful interior. It is located in the Westfield Fashion Square at space #124, which is one of the smaller, ground-level perimeter shops facing the parking structure closest to the Hazeltine Avenue entry.
On the large picture windows, the name of the shop is painted in whimsical lettering set high on the glass. Inside, salon chairs have been transformed into kid-sized race cars and a fighter plane. And what child could resist sitting in the driver’s seat of a (pint-sized) Ferrari, or a Barbie convertible, or in the pilot’s seat of a U.S. Navy fighter plane.
The environment was designed to be a “clean, comfortable environment, not a scary experience,” said Ellen Skuratovsky, co-owner, primary investor and marketing manager of Little Stars.
Marina Skuratovsky, her sister-in-law, is the chief hair stylist. Skuratovsky said that they created the fun salon “Because sometimes when kids come to a salon for their first haircut, many times it’s not a good experience.”
Marina explained that the thematic interior was designed by her brother-in-law, a professional artist who graduated from a fine art academy in Russia. He designed and produced the custom-made decorations: the colorful wall designs, lighting, fixtures, even the four toy vehicle/barber chairs, complete with steering, spinning wheels, and toy sounds.
Before the founding of Little Stars, Ellen worked at a doctor’s office and Marina had been doing hair styling most of her life, starting at age 18 in her native Russia. Marina then moved to the United States, got her hair stylist license here, and worked in Redondo Beach and Beverly Hills before setting up shop with Ellen in Sherman Oaks.
“This is a family business,” Ellen said. “We’ve known each other for over fifteen years."
“We’re here for the kids, we’re here for their smiles, to bring them happiness in their first haircut experience,” Marina said. Little Stars offers most of the services of a conventional salon, although they don’t do hair coloring for kids, “as the smell of hair colors is not good for kids,” Marina explained.
Besides the attractive and playful décor, Little Stars provides iPads loaded with fun educational apps at all the stations as another way to keep the kids’ minds off the haircut at hand. As Marina put it: "More patience, more smiles, more happy time!"
The salon serves customers from as young as nine months old on up. Little Stars even provides services to an older clientele, like moms and dads. There are two large standard barber chairs in the salon to fit adults.
In the long term, Marina and Ellen hope to open up new locations. But for now, they both agree that they love what they are doing in their new business, because their simple goal is to just make their first-time customers—the kids—happy.
“And the kids don't want to leave the salon. They're crying when the parents want to take them away," Marina said.
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Little Stars Hair Salon, Westfield Fashion Square, 14006 Riverside Dr. #124,
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423,
818-205-9222,
www.littlestarssalon.com