Paisley Moon opens at new location
Milton-based salon Paisley Moon is back, this time at a new location, but people will not have to look far – the salon has set up shop across Federal Street in the building formerly occupied by Suburban Farmhouse.
Owner Gretchen Ninzeheltzer said she had expansion ideas for Paisley Moon, but those plans were thrown for a loop in September when a fire forced them to evacuate their old space at 109 Federal St., which they had been in for 11 years.
“We had been planning to expand, just not this fast,” she said.
Luckily for her, the building at 108 Federal St. was available, and she quickly got to work reconfiguring the space from a restaurant to a salon. Work started in October, and the salon was able to reopen in early February.
Ninzeheltzer said the new Paisley Moon will still have hair services, but will be adding options like nails, facials, massages, waxing and eyelashes. She said when she first started, she had done nails, but gave it up over time. With a new space, Ninzeheltzer said she wanted to bring additional services that could not be found in downtown Milton.
Originally born in Berlin, Md., Ninzeheltzer has spent most of her life in Sussex County, attending Sussex Tech in Georgetown where she first learned how to do hair. She said she got away from that at first and became a real estate paralegal. However, realizing life in a business suit was not for her, she went back into hairstyling, working as an assistant in salons. After her apprenticeship, she taught hair skills through the company Eufora. Not wanting to teach as a full-time job, Ninzeheltzer decided to open her own salon, Paisley Moon, in Milton, where she has lived since she was 18.
Between the fire and the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was an extremely difficult year for the salon.
“On top of COVID, we were extremely surprised and devastated at [the fire]. Not only had we been out of work for four or five months at the beginning of COVID, we were now out another four or five months. It was pretty terrible. We didn’t lose a lot of items. But we lost our actual building because when the fire happened, it burned out all the electrical and the water,” Ninzeheltzer said.
With limited capacity due to the pandemic, she said, Paisley Moon cannot handle as many clients at one time, and the salon experience – where people bring their friends or family – is very different.
Still, she’s proud of the hard work paying off with the new salon.
“We did a lot of painting. We refinished the floors. We were in here for five solid months,” she said of the renovations to the building. “So far, so good. I think it’s going to be amazing. Everyone is ready for the other services to come in. All the technicians will start by the first of March.”
Paisley Moon is only serving clients with appointments, which can be made by calling 302-684-4247. The salon is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday, and by appointment only on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
