Serenity Couture to open second, smaller salon in northwest Rochester – Post Bulletin

ROCHESTER — One of the Med City’s largest and oldest salons is adding some volume by opening a second location in northwest Rochester.

Serenity Couture Salon & Spa,

known as City Looks Salon and Spa from 1969 to 2015, has been a landmark at

Rochester’s Apache Mall

since the shopping center opened. It fills 14,000-square-feet of space and features 13 spa rooms and 34 stylists stations staffed by 66 employees.

Co-owners Jessica Huxsol and Rachel Petrich now want to offer their services in a second location with a smaller, more intimate feel.

“We do love the Apache Mall. We’re original tenants. It’s been wonderful for us, but one of the things that we sometimes hear from potential employees or new hires is that the salon is so big,” said Huxsol. “They’re a little scared to start out in the industry in such a large salon. We were interested in a new location with a much smaller footprint, so we can appeal to somebody who’s looking for a real big salon that they’d love to work in and to someone who feels more comfortable in a smaller environment.”

The duo recently purchased a commercial building at 2300 Superior Dr. NW with the help of Rochester Realtor Jay Christenson of Loam Commercial Real Estate for $1.6 million. They are now building out Serenity Couture West in a 3,200-square-foot space in Suite 3 of the building.

Rochester’s Serenity Couture Salon & Spa is building out a second, smaller salon at 2300 Superior Drive NW. They hope to have it ready to open by the holidays.

That space housed

Hair Studio 52 from 2004 to 2022.

Most recently, Suite 3 was home to the

Nana Gogo Toybrary

followed by the

Another World VR gaming arena.

TT Trademark Title Services and

Beyond Kitchens

are also tenants of the complex.

The Serenity Couture West will offer all of the same hair, nail, massage and aesthetic services as its larger sibling, just a smaller scale with three spa rooms and 16 stylist stations. If everything goes as planned, they hope to open in the new West salon by the holiday season.

The owners feel their decision is backed up by their customers enthusiasm about the new location.

“Although Rochester is still not a huge city, there’s so much excitement for something in that northwest area,” said Petrich. “That westside of Rochester is the up and coming area and there’s no other salons really kind of in that area.”

The new location is the latest step in the history of the salon started by Gil and Rosey Gilbertson, Petrich’s aunt and uncle. The Gilbertsons sold the salon in 2015 and the new owners changed the name from City Looks to Serenity Couture. After working at the salon for decades,

Huxsol and Petrich purchased it

in 2022.

Jeff Kiger writes a daily column, “Heard Around Rochester,” in addition to writing articles about local businesses, Mayo Clinic, IBM, Hormel Foods, Crenlo and others. The opinions of my employer do not necessarily reflect my opinions. He has worked in Rochester for the Post Bulletin since 1999. Send tips to [email protected] or via Twitter to @whereskiger . You can call him at 507-285-7798.

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