Small Business Spotlight: Pigtails & Crewcuts opens at NewMarket Square

Melissa and Chance Lindley’s venture into a kids salon franchise came with a ringing endorsement from their 9-year-old daughter, Brookelyn.

The family first patronized Pigtails & Crewcuts when they lived in Omaha.

“She absolutely loved it,” Melissa Lindley said.

The Lindleys opened their Pigtails & Crewcuts location at NewMarket Square last week. In addition to haircuts for children up to their teen years, the business hosts children’s parties and has a small retail area.

The Lindleys are Wichita natives who left a decade ago as Chance worked his way up the women’s college basketball coaching ladder. He coached at Barton Community College and the University of Arizona before landing the head coaching job at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Melissa put her college degree in exercise science to work for the YMCA in Omaha, but the couple say going into business was not unexpected.

“I always had two professional goals,” Chance said. “One was to coach Division I basketball and the other was to own our own business.”

The Lindleys looked at a number of business opportunities before deciding on Pigtails & Crewcuts, an Atlanta-based company with about 40 franchises. The 1,400-square-foot Wichita location is the company’s first in Kansas.

The Lindleys wanted to return to Wichita to be close to family and chose NewMarket Square “because it’s growing so fast,” Chance said. “We just felt this makes sense for what we want to do.”

Melissa said the salon “is here for all kids, but especially for those kids that hate to get their hair cut.”

“We have had so many parents walk in and go, ‘This is not going to go well. I’m so sorry,’ ” she said. “We say, ‘That’s why we’re here.’ They leave going, ‘Oh, my gosh, my child has never acted like this’ ” while getting a haircut.

There are themed chairs for young customers to sit in. The kids can color or play games in the party room while they wait, or they can blow bubbles and even sit at the toy train table if they want while getting their hair cut.

“All of our stylists are fabulous with kids,” Melissa said. “They’ve chosen to be here and work with kids.”

Haircuts cost $16.95 and include small gifts for each child, such as glitter or braids for girls and colored hair gel for boys, if desired.

A “first haircut” package is available, complete with photograph and a lock of hair in a keepsake frame. For birthday parties, Pigtails & Crewcuts offers games, toe and finger-painting, “up-dos” for young girls and more.

Neither Lindley cuts hair, but both are involved in the business full time. Chance oversaw construction of the salon and handles its bookkeeping and marketing. Melissa is in the business day to day, getting to know customers and managing staff members.

“It’s a job we can do together as a family,” Chance said. “I loved coaching, but I was gone a lot. Now I can take my daughter to school and pick her up.”

This story was originally published November 26, 2014 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Small Business Spotlight: Pigtails & Crewcuts opens at NewMarket Square."