Albany girls take on the City

Hay Street may seem like a world away from the hustle and bustle of York Street, but for two former Albany women it has been the road to success.

The affluent Subiaco shopping district is home to not one but two businesses run by born-and-bred Great Southerners.

Boutique fashion store Ricarda is one of a family owned and operated chain, with another store in Dalkeith and a third in Albany, while Subi Hairdressing Aveda is the successful product of years of hard work by Nikki Waugh.

Even better, the two Subiaco businesses are neighbours.

Ms Waugh started out in the industry working for Aveda, a hair and skin care products producer, travelling around Australia to Broome, Melbourne and Hayman Island before returning to Perth.

At the tender age of 23, she purchased the two-story salon that is now Subi Hairdressing.

Now 28, Ms Waugh said business was thriving, with up to nine staff and a successful online marketing campaign putting about 5000 Facebook and Twitter followers at her fingertips, a figure that was growing daily.

“I’m on the board for Subiaco for social networking, because we seem to have nutted that out quite well,” she said.

“That’s been the massive difference in my business to other businesses up here.

Often if the salon’s not booked out, we’ll advertise two spots at 30 or 40 per cent off and then obviously they immediately go. It’s just a brilliant way to be involved with our customers every single day, and obviously it’s not paid for, so that’s even better.”

The first Ricarda store opened on York Street in 2002 and the Dalkeith store was opened in 2006 out of a desire to create new and satisfy existing Perth clients.

Pauline Locker, daughter of brand creator and namesake Ricarda Loecker, said opening the 300sqm Subiaco store in May last year was designed to “attract shoppers in more high-density shopping areas”.

“It’s not a shopping centre, but it’s being able to walk around shops and find our brand where we offer our products,” she said.

Ricarda brings together “an atmosphere of beautiful chaos that allows individuality to flourish through innovative design”, in the form of labels including Jennifer Behr, Marsell, Jerome Dreyfuss and Illestiva.