by Paige Wiren
In their February issue, Beauty Store Business Magazine published a “crème-de-la-crème” awards list of national stores chosen in response to the question “What do you believe are the 25 most fascinating beauty retailers in the United States?” Included in the list of both small, independent, and mega-chain stores is the locally-owned and operated Sugar House beauty supply store and salon Got Beauty.
“Fascinating” describes the consumer experience owner Tammy Taylor has created, from the scale and design of the store’s interior to the range of products, salon offerings and customer service her knowledgeable staff provides. Enter the fantastical, colorful setting, with towering handsome, well-stocked, open cabinets, accessed by high-reaching, wooden ladders on tracks that run the length of the cabinet walls reminiscent of the ones in the opening scene of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Video monitors play movies and music videos; a giant ruby-red slipper tops a commercially playful display; a disco ball glitters in the west window.
No newcomer to the biz, Tammy first learned about beauty retail working at her father’s Provo beauty supply store, and loved it. In 1990 Tammy infused that passion into her first Utah store, and in 2000 opened Got Beauty at its current location on 900 E. and 2100 S. In addition, using her learned understanding of product ingredients, Tammy and her daughters created POPS, a full cosmetics line.
Clients with all different skin and hair types range in age from four to eighty-five. Got Beauty has a regular, make-up wearing male clientele. Says manager Jennifer Holmstead, “We ask the same question to anyone who comes in, no matter who they are: What are your concerns? How can we help you? We definitely provide a strong combination of products and experience, and I think the experience of our staff differentiates us from other suppliers.” Adds Tammy, “It’s about knowing how to give the right thing to the right people.”
But what about the humble idea that beauty is only skin deep, that it’s what’s on the inside that’s most important? “Can you care about looking good and not be shallow?” Tammy asks. “Absolutely. ‘Love who you’ are is something we promote around here. We sell ‘feel good,’ and that comes in all different forms.”
Got Beauty offers a wide variety of gift items, wigs, leather handbags and footwear; beauty products
and salon services. But what makes the store award-winningly successful? “It sounds almost too simple to say,” Tammy reveals, “but I like what I do. Believe it or not, I come to work to feel good.”
