When Lucy Nichols lived in Arvada within the Seventies, she selected Magnificence Inc. because the place to get her hair accomplished — first in Denver, then in Wheat Ridge after the enterprise moved.
She continued going to the family-run hair salon even when she lived in Watkins, practically 30 miles away. Similar story after Nichols, 71, moved to Westminster after which to Longmont, the place she lives immediately.
“This was at all times my go-to,” she stated whereas sitting for a final hair appointment this week on the venerable magnificence store on West forty fourth Avenue, half a century after her first lower. “It’s like household right here.”
However the matriarch of the household enterprise, Dolores “Dee” Lombardi, died two-and-a-half years in the past. And on Saturday, Magnificence Inc. will shut its doorways — 60 years and in the future after Dee purchased the salon.
Joe DeMott owns Pietra’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant in Wheat Ridge, which is proudly marking its personal sixtieth yr in enterprise this yr. His pizzeria is lower than two miles down West forty fourth Avenue from Magnificence Inc.
“It’s wonderful to see something go to 60 years,” stated DeMott, who’s a distant cousin of the Lombardi household. “It’s positively a dying factor” — and, in Magnificence Inc.’s case, the closure saddens him.
It’s the newest demise of a longtime native enterprise in metro Denver. Federal Heating closed final yr after 84 years, whereas New Saigon shut its doorways final month after serving up Vietnamese delicacies in Denver for greater than 4 many years.
Whereas it was in enterprise, Magnificence Inc. was a hub of exercise for the group, particularly for Italian-People in north Denver and people who moved west to the suburbs over time — identical to the hair salon did.
Its first two areas have been in Denver, at forty fourth and Decatur Avenue after which at forty fourth and Lowell Avenue. It landed at forty fourth and Jay Avenue in Wheat Ridge in 1982.
“Everyone in north Denver knew about Magnificence Inc.,” stated Kathy Peppel, Dee’s youthful sister, who at 72 has labored on the salon for 37 years. “Individuals felt so welcome.”
The key was quickly out.
“We have now individuals come from the mountains, from Bailey, from Windsor and from Parker,” stated Peppel, who has by no means labored wherever however at her sister’s salon.
Prospects met at Magnificence Inc. to indicate off new child infants, a brand new pet or the newest automotive they’d bought.
“It was a really social gathering place the place everybody needed to be,” stated Dee’s daughter, Pauletta Tonilas, who labored as a receptionist at Magnificence Inc. as a child. “It was the hip place to get your hair accomplished.”
The enterprise was additionally decidedly old fashioned, accepting solely money or checks for cost, proper up till closing this week.
Lots of its hair stylists have caught round — Janna was nonetheless reducing hair there this week after 43 years and Grace Ann retired from the chair and mirror at age 82, whereas John, who’s in his 80s, nonetheless works at Magnificence Inc.
“I like doing hair and Dee was an exquisite boss,” Janna Falbo, 71, stated as she labored on one in every of her last prospects this week. “This was my second house.”
Dee’s niece, Lori Rushton, has labored the entrance desk at Magnificence Inc. a number of days per week since 1980. The purchasers have been so loyal, she stated, that they have been greeted by identify.
And lots of had “standing” appointments — similar day, similar time, similar station.
“When all of the seats have been full, you didn’t want a clock to let you know what time it was — you might inform the time by who was strolling by means of the door,” Rushton stated. “We’re dropping a spot the place individuals gathered. It’s going to be very onerous.”
Dee Lombardi took over Magnificence Inc. from the unique proprietor on March 29, 1964. It was a uncommon transfer by a lady again then, Tonilas stated. After her mom acquired divorced, she stored reducing hair whereas making an attempt to boost two kids.
“She was outstanding in how she offered an important life for me and my brother,” Tonilas stated.
Dee acquired married once more, this time to Skip Jutze, knowledgeable baseball participant who began as a catcher for the Denver Bears minor league workforce earlier than enjoying for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners throughout that workforce’s maiden season in 1977.
They, too, ultimately divorced, Tonilas stated — after which it was simply her mom and her beloved hair salon.
“She by no means needed to promote. It was all phrase of mouth,” stated Tonilas, who beforehand labored for a number of years as communications director for the Regional Transportation District.
In her later years, Lombardi was recognized with leukemia. She labored proper up till she died in September 2021, at 80. In her obituary revealed in The Denver Submit, she was lauded for her tenacity in “powering by means of the consequences of leukemia to proceed to carry happiness, smiles and laughter to her prospects and coworkers as she did all through her complete profession.”
“She labored (whereas) not feeling good loads,” Tonilas stated of these last months.
Tonilas and her brother thought lengthy and onerous about what to do with Magnificence Inc. after their mom’s demise.
In the long run, they sensed headwinds that may make it tough to maintain a small enterprise afloat within the face of a altering retail panorama and different forces they couldn’t management. Like a worldwide pandemic — which it had already survived, however not with out some bumps and bruises.
On March 19, 2020, Gov. Jared Polis ordered a six-week closure of all hair salons within the state.
“COVID was a extreme affect on hair salons,” Tonilas stated. “That was the beginning of the nail within the coffin for Magnificence Inc.”
Some prospects by no means got here again, she stated, having realized to type or colour their hair at house whereas in lockdown. And of the shoppers whose loyalty introduced them again to Magnificence Inc. as quickly the enterprise was allowed to reopen, Father Time was not on their aspect.
“The clientele has decreased over the previous couple of years,” Tonilas stated. “Plenty of the shoppers are older or have handed away.”
Add to that an ongoing labor scarcity and a historic run-up in property taxes in Colorado, and Tonilas stated it grew to become evident that it was time to close the doorways.
The closure of Magnificence Inc. on the similar time it marks its sixtieth anniversary is a bittersweet confluence of occasions, Tonilas stated. However the enterprise’ longevity underneath her mom’s management is one thing she is immensely pleased with.
“I feel it’s important for a enterprise to have a good time 60 years,” she stated. “There are usually not many companies as of late that final for 60 years.”
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