Plymouth beauty salon Satori has closed, blaming Brexit for damaging trade

Plymouth-based beauty salon Satori has blamed Brexit for negatively impacting trade and damaging consumer confidence as it closes down, resulting in 10 job losses.

The salon, which reported a 40% year-on-year growth and forecasted a £500,000 turnover, was primed for expansion this year, announcing it would be opening more salons in the South West and a training academy in Plymouth.

However, owners Stuart Dyke and Natasha Griffin said that after the June 2016 EU Referendum custom fell sharply, with inflation hitting customers in the pocket, while the price of the firm’s product and equipment purchases rose.

"We were primed for expansion at the beginning of last year and had a private investor involved – then Brexit hit and knocked our growth out,” said Griffin.

"Consumer confidence went. Because beauty is not an essential for our clients, instead of coming in every two weeks, it became once a month or every six weeks, or making it a special treat.

"But our loyal core customers kept coming in and this is where we have the greatest sadness, that and not working with the team anymore."

Trade fell the week after the referendum and then “plateaued” at a much lower level than ever before. "We thought we could weather it but our investor pulled out and we could not get back to growth,” said Dyke.  

“There comes a point where, as a company, you have to say you can't continue.”

The duo couldn’t recover from the loss, resulting in the “difficult decision” to stop trading on Sunday, April 30, 2017.

“We’re upset to have closed, of course we are. But we are proud of what the team achieved and that we saw nearly 10,000 clients in two and a half years,” said Griffin.

The couple also cited rising business rates, an increase in the National Living Wage Bill and the £40m Bretonside multiplex not being built yet, as other contributing factors.

Former staff members have managed to find new jobs and Dyke and Griffin have joined Plymouth creative agency iMarvel! as business developers – having previously worked as senior executives at the Cineworld cinema chain.

Satori opened on the first floor of Drake Circus Shopping Centre in Plymouth in November 2014 and was awarded runner-up as Best Start-up at the 2015 Herald Business Awards.

The couple spent £100,000 fitting the salon out, as well as injecting another £100,000 into the business.  

Images: ©Facebook/@Satoribeautyenlightened