Hare & Hunter’s gorgeous salon has just turned one and owners (and best friends) Brooke and Nicole are sharing a little look into their beautifully styled salon along with how it came together and how a dream between two friends turned into reality.
Brooke: I arrived in NZ 5 years ago, originally from Sydney, and decided going back into a salon wasn’t going to be for me, so Hare & Hunter was created. I used my upstairs lounge room to do all of my colour work, and went wherever the weddings would take me on location. I’d never used instagram and didn’t really know many people. I was fortunate enough to always be in the right place at the right time, and took full advantage of every opportunity that came my way.
I met my bestie Nicole not long after we both arrived, she’s originally from Canada (kiwi husbands dragged us back) and instantly realised we both had the same goals and dreams of opening a salon. We spoke about opening a business together (I mean what best friends dont talk about opening a business together) but the timing never seemed right. Nicole had a great job at another salon and I’d taken 6 months maternity leave to have my second son. Nicole left her job to go traveling and spend some time with family. While on her travels we seriously started talking about “The Salon”. We spoke about it everyday all day!
When Nicole arrived back into Auckland, it was the start of our first level 4 lockdown, we used this time to start planning properly. We finally found a space we loved and Hare & Hunter became a team of 2. We decided to work with an architect as it seemed a bit tricky trying to get two peoples ideas to align while still looking amazing and on brand. The build was on track to finish on time, then we went into lock down number 2. We were so fortunate that it was only level 3, our builders could carry on, we only had a two day delay and our doors opened for the first time on Thursday the 10th September 2020
We walk into our beautiful space everyday and can’t believe our dreams finally came true. So much hard work and sacrifice goes into opening a business, and on top of that, we did it through a pandemic. With our first birthday we find ourselves in lockdown again, reflecting on what a wild year it’s been for us. We grew from a team of 2 to 5 in our first 5 months and we are just getting started! We can’t wait to smash some more goals and see how far we can take Hare & Hunter.
