SMALL BUSINESS | Susan's Scissor Shack Beauty shop keeps rolling along in Truck World Plaza

From a modest beginning 25 years ago, the salon has never stopped growing.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HUBBARD -- Truck World Plaza allows travelers to get something to eat, spend time in a video arcade and get their hair trimmed.
One of the nine businesses in the plaza is Susan's Scissor Shack, which opened there nearly 25 years ago.
"Truck World Inc. was receptive to having a beauty shop in the plaza," recalled Susan Resatar, shop owner. "I got the space, but everyone thought I was crazy to put a salon in a travel shop. If I had 50 cents for everyone who peeped in here when we first opened, I could retire."
Resatar, who started with one employee and a small amount of space, has no plans to retire from the business she built from scratch. She now has six full- and part-time employees who specialize in cutting, coloring and styling hair, as well as a growing list of clients.
Since opening Susan's Scissor Shack in December 1979, Resatar has installed a new floor portion, added more room and performed other remodeling work.
Resatar said she has always had an interest in fashion and running her own business. Before opening Susan's Scissor Shack, Resatar attending the Victor George Beauty School in Youngstown and then worked for four years at a Hubbard salon. After that, Resatar worked as an assistant for Richard Ombres, who owned a beauty salon in Liberty.
Teaching and traveling
In the early 1990s, she took a position with Tressa, a Cincinnati-based company, that led to her teaching classes two days a week in color and perm techniques. She began traveling to teach in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Canton.
"I think that helped my business grow," she said. "I not only taught, I learned a lot from other salons."
In 2000, she became sales and education manager in the Midwest for Keune Hair Cosmetics in Lawrenceville, Ga., while still running her own business.
That move increased the amount of time she spent on the road, as well as the distances she traveled. Resatar said she used to fly two or three times a week to Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis and other cities to attend shows and sell products -- until the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Resatar recalled being the only passenger aboard a Pittsburgh-to-Milwaukee flight six days after the attacks, something she said made her want to work and travel closer to home.
Now, Resatar works three days a week for the Dorio Salon Network, a New Castle, Pa.-based company, selling salon items to beauty shops in the Warren, Cleveland and Ashland, Ohio, areas. Among the products Resatar sells is a new men's hair color she said is geared toward professional workers.
Good employees
Resatar praised her employees for contributing to the success of what she calls a "progressive and friendly" salon. She also said her business gains new customers nearly every day.
"I used to wait for the phone to ring and when the phone rang, it was my mother calling to see how I'm doing. She was excited I had opened my business and she would want to know how my day was going," Resater recalled. "Now the phone rings constantly. It's such a good feeling."