Studio B Salon building at new location

Democrat photo/Kaden Quinn Studio B Salon owner Brandy Brockes stands with her daughter, Nova, in her building currently under construction. Until the new space is finished, Studio B will remain at its current locationon South High Street.
Democrat photo/Kaden Quinn Studio B Salon owner Brandy Brockes stands with her daughter, Nova, in her building currently under construction. Until the new space is finished, Studio B will remain at its current locationon South High Street.

Local business owner Brandy Brockes is moving her salon to a new California location, which is currently under construction.

Brockes' Studio B Salon began operating from its current location next to Exhale Spa on South High Street in 2019. Her new building is being constructed near her husband's business, Brockes Tire & Auto, on East Buchanan Street.

While Brockes originally went to college to become a teacher, she said she always had an interest in hair and cosmetics. Eventually, she decided to attend beauty school when she was 25 years old, then graduated and worked in Jefferson City at a salon for five years.

Transitioning back to California, Brockes opened Studio B Salon within the building housing Exhale Spa, owned by Kayle Kiesling. However, with Kiesling's recent decision to sell the building and move her own business, Brockes said she and her family made the decision to construct a space of her own.

"We've owned this lot (next to my husband's business) for some time and we would always just kind of toss around ideas on what we were going to do with it," Brockes said. "Whenever Kayle was selling her building, it kind of kick-started things into building my place here. We're building the structure to make it bigger - going from about 800 square feet to like 1,750 square feet."

Studio B Salon is going to have a lot more room moving forward. Brockes said it has been nice to design a new building, rather than building on an already existing structure, and said she is grateful to have had the assistance her family has received as work continues.

"The progress is really good so far, I've been really fortunate," Brockes said. "My dad retired this past yearbut then he came to work for us and has now been acting as my general contractor. As far as materials (we need to build), we just had to kind of scrounge to find them but luckily we've made enough friends in the contractor world to help us. They've all been really great about stepping up and helping me get this done."

Brockes said this new transition will be very beneficial towards her clientele. She said due to the larger space, more stations will be available inside the salon as well as better parking for those looking for services. Brockes said it will also allow the salon to offer more services - an automatic spray tan booth will be added among the list of hair and cosmetic services the salon already offers.

Brockes said she is very eager to build something that will add to the community. She said she believes establishing a business is a great way to help California grow and show just how much the area has to offer its residents.

While it will take some time until the salon's new home is complete, Brockes said she wants the community to know she has been allowed to stay at her current location until the new structure is complete. As they continue their work, Brockes said she and her family look forward to presenting Studio B Salon's new location to local residents.

"We're just excited," Brockes said. "We're excited to move and excited to kind of show off the new space. We're taking new clients, so I want to say that we welcome them. We're also going to have an open house event. Although, I just don't know exactly the date yet, we'll make sure to put something out and invite everybody to it when the time comes."