Madison and Co., the salon located in the Anderson Student Center, is closing its doors after nine months at St. Thomas.

The salon, which opened April 1, has not been able to generate enough business within the St. Thomas community to stay open and will be closing Dec. 19. General Manager Pam Singletary said the decision was hard to make and was purely financial.

“We wish it could have been different,” Singletary said. “We’re sorry to go, as much as people have said they’re sorry to see us leave.”

Junior Kenzie Watson has made Madison and Co. her regular salon and is sad to see it close.

“I really enjoy UST having a salon on campus, and I think it’s a nice amenity. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t get my haircut or a manicure or any other salon needs,” Watson said. “I’m sad that the salon is closing, but I understand how difficult it is to sustain that business model on the UST campus.”

According to Singletary, student schedules have made it hard to maintain the business.

“If the students were there constantly, we would probably be able to make a go of it, but they’re not there. The reality is they’re not there a good four and a half months a year when you include breaks and J-Term and all that,” Singletary said. “It’s difficult to maintain a staff when it’s so up and down like that.”

Junior Allie Martinson isn’t surprised the salon is closing.

“I don’t think it’s needed. Since St. Thomas is in the middle of a huge city, we have plenty of salons near us anyway. It’s a cool concept, but it just didn’t get used enough,” Martinson said. “I barely knew anybody who went to the salon, and since it’s in the basement of ASC, a lot of people didn’t even know about it.”

Singletary agreed the location was not ideal.

“It’s a difficult location because it’s a destination as opposed to a walk-by,” Singletary said. “I was kind of more hoping that we could get more of the outside community, but it’s really difficult when it’s basically invisible to the outside community.”

A plan for what will fill Madison and Co.’s vacancy hasn’t been set yet. Gerald Anderley, associate vice president for Auxiliary Services, said there are many different possibilities, none of which include another salon since Madison and Co. is the second salon to close in the Anderson Student Center.

“There have been suggestions on a card store, a calendar store, a flower shop, a computer center,” Anderley said. “There’s all kinds of ideas for it, but we’ve got about $50,000 of salon equipment sitting in it right now. It’s been very difficult to find anybody else who wants to try another salon. We’ll have to see what transpires.”

Junior Jacob Conaway doesn’t think the salon was necessarily marketed for him.

“It’s too expensive,” Conaway said. “I can get a $15 or $20 haircut (elsewhere). I feel like it’s more for girls maybe.”

Regardless of how many students visited the salon, Singletary said she has appreciated Madison and Co.’s time at St. Thomas.

“We’ve really enjoyed being there. St. Thomas was very cooperative with us,” Singletary said. “They were very much wanting us to be successful. They helped us whenever they could, and so we were really happy with that.”

Theresa Bourke can be reached at bour5445@stthomas.edu.