Spreading the Glam

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Spreading the Glam - at the Yakima Herald-Republic

May 25, 2003
830 words
Yakima Herald-Republic

Spreading the Glam -- Businesswoman makes haircuts more fun for youngsters, offers girls glamour parties -- and hopes to franchise her operation

By DORI HARRELL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Yakima businesswoman Karla VandenBerg has got a monkey on her back, and she wants to keep it that way.

VandenBerg owns Monkey Dooz in Yakima, a children's hair salon and glamour studio. This month, she opened a Monkey Dooz Salon, Spa and Boutique in Calgary, Canada, and is also launching one in Kennewick.

Monkey Dooz salons feature rain forest themes, and children watch movies such as “The Jungle Book” and suck on lollipops while workers snip their hair. The business also hosts glamour parties for girls, in which they experience homemade strawberry facials, makeovers, dress up like princesses and put on fashion shows for mom and dad.

The two new stores also feature spas, where teen girls are pampered with pineapple facials, chocolate pedicures and massages. It's a concept VandenBerg hopes to franchise someday. In addition, she's taking her idea on the road and is negotiating to host glamour camps for children at two Arizona resorts this summer.

“Children always need haircuts, and girls always want to dress up and be pampered. I believe I've found a niche market,” VandenBerg said. The Monkey Dooz glamour studios target girls 2 to 12 years old, and stores with spas also cater to teenagers.

The cost is about $25 per person for a glamour party, and another $15 for a fashion show. Spa goodies for teenagers run $60 per person. During the fashion show, the girls are asked questions such as their favorite place (often grandma's house) and what they would do to make the world a better place. “A popular answer is, they would try to get people to quit smoking,” VandenBerg said.

VandenBerg opened Monkey Dooz in Glenwood Square, 5110 Tieton Drive, almost two years ago, along with a high-end children's clothing store, Bubble Kisses. Bubble Kisses closed a year later, and VandenBerg tried out the apparel shop in Kennewick. The store there also offered glamour parties.

And while the party theme took off, the store itself fizzled. So VandenBerg recently shuttered Bubble Kisses entirely and is focusing on the primping business. The 1,600-square-foot Monkey Dooz will be located near the Columbia Center in Kennewick and should usher in children by the end of the month.

Originally from Calgary, VandenBerg believed her glamour studio idea would fly north of the U.S. border, and earlier this month she opened a Monkey Dooz in her hometown with her brother, Darin Schmick. Schmick financed and runs that operation, and VandenBerg holds a 30 percent ownership.

But it hasn't been easy for the entrepreneur, who lives in Wapato on a dairy farm. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, business slowed and VandenBerg said her Yakima bankers and accountants asked her when she would quit. She refused to give up. She turned her energies into Monkey Dooz, the project she believed would grow. She financed the $85,000 Kennewick store herself.

“It's been tough, from the stress of all the worries,” VandenBerg said. “But I got this feeling in my stomach: This is something big, and I'm going to make it happen.”

Inspiring her recently was the book Bags to Riches: 7 Secrets for Women in Business by Linda Hollander. Hollander made her fortune with the business The Bag Ladies, which sells custom-printed bags to companies such as Disney, Cisco Systems and Universal Studios.

The book, published in March [2003] by Ten Speed Press in California, features women entrepreneurs who were once told to get out of business, such as makeup mogul Estée Lauder.

VandenBerg said she called Hollander while driving in her car one day, and the author put her in touch with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. Wyndham caters to women travelers and aids businesswomen whenever possible, Hollander said in a phone interview from her Los Angeles headquarters.

“So I called Wyndham,” VandenBerg said, “And they're all for it. It's not like Yakima, where the bankers tell you to go home and give up.” VandenBerg plans to hold glamour camps this summer in Arizona at The Boulders Resort and Golden Door Spa, a Wyndham luxury resort. She's also negotiating with The Wigwam, a golf getaway also in Arizona.

Hollander said since her book came out, she's received many calls from women such as VandenBerg. “I tell them other people don't have their vision, and they mean well when they say give up,” Hollander said. “But I say Karla has passion and drive, and that's what a successful entrepreneur needs.”

VandenBerg did the right thing closing the struggling Bubble Kisses stores and concentrating on Monkey Dooz, Hollander said. VandenBerg now employs 12 workers between her three salons and said she'll keep pushing forward and opening others.

She hopes to open a new store in Henderson, Nevada, later this year. VandenBerg said she realizes it'll take big dollars to franchise her operation. She hopes to have the initial $60,000 needed to obtain legal documents for such a venture by next summer.

“I keep doing it to see the little girls' faces,” she said. “It makes it all worthwhile.”

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