Rocketts Landing gets a new beauty salon

Lenise Robertson, on left, and Star David recently opened Bloom Salon & Suites in Rocketts Landing. The salon offers rentable space for hair stylists and other beauty pros. (Courtesy Connie McGowan/House of Photography)

Two seasoned local hair care professionals have turned a former real estate office into their new salon.

Bloom Salon & Suites recently opened at 4833 Old Main St. in Rocketts Landing. Lenise Robinson and Star David, who have more than 30 years of experience in the beauty industry between them, are behind the concept.

Bloom offers rentable space for professionals such as hair stylists, massage therapists and aestheticians to operate their own businesses.

The 2,100-square-foot salon features six private suites, as well as six stations that share the salon’s main area.

Rentals start at $325 per week, and include access to a laundry room and break room.

Robinson and David said they saw a need for a place that provided a lower barrier to entry into the beauty industry. David said that she believes the rentable suite-style concept common in beauty salons was too big a step for many up-and-comers in the industry. Bloom’s goal is for a person to establish a business with a station in the space and have an option to graduate up to a suite while staying under the same roof.

“People were moving to suites and they didn’t have the background, customer service skills or knowledge to start their own business,” David said. “We thought maybe we could do a transitional space.”

The salon’s mid-July opening came after a few years of planning and hunting for space. Robinson and David started to look for retail spaces to lease in 2020, but the disruptions of the pandemic years slowed the search.

“Sticking to our vision was very difficult, because we saw people opening salon suites and doing the moves we wanted to do,” Robinson said.

The pair worked with Icon Realty Group and ultimately ended up leasing the real estate agency’s former office space on Old Main Street.

“We found our local Realtors and began our search. It kept turning up lemons,” David said. “Then the opportunity presented itself from our agents to take over their space.”

Icon continues to operate out of a new Rocketts Landing office at 4501 E. Main St., as well as its office in western Henrico.

David and Robinson also have moved their individual salon practices into Bloom: David owns Healthy Hair Republic and Robinson owns Parlour RVA. Each has 16 years of experience as hair stylists.

A ribbon-cutting event for Bloom is planned for Aug. 24.

Another relatively recent arrival to the Rocketts Landing neighborhood is the rentable workplace concept Lost Office Collaborative.

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