Read our story from a Year ago!! We are a Salon in
Progress.
Lynchburg
salon going strong after June 29 storm
City estimates 65-plus percent of businesses suffered
damage or lost money
Sam O'Keefe / The News&Advance
Lynchburg salon going strong after June 29 storm
Trinna Johnson, owner of Ultra Beauty And Braids, styles
Antoinette Garvin’s hair at Lumpy’s Barber Shop on 12th
Street. She currently is unable to work out of her shop
because of damage caused by the June 29 wind storm.
“We’re looking forward to coming back,” she said.
Posted: Monday, July 23, 2012 7:05 am
Car Damage Photos taken by Catrinna Johnson owner of
Ultra Beauty and Braids
Lynchburg salon going strong after June 29 storm
Parker Michels-Boyce/The News&Advance
Lynchburg storm damage
Alicia Petskanewsadvance.com
The scene outside Trinna Johnson’s salon on Campbell
Avenue the day after the derecho hit was enough to make
any small business owner’s heart sink.
Downed wires and debris littered the parking lot. A
wooden facade was blown straight off the building —
striking Johnson’s car as it fell.
  “It
looked pretty bad,” she said.
But Johnson, a longtime stylist who’s owned Ultra Beauty
and Braids on Campbell Avenue for two years, quickly
collected herself and started looking for solutions.
When a client called wondering if she could still get
her hair done that day, Johnson agreed to do a home
visit in order to keep the appointment.
The storm struck on a Friday. “Saturday morning, I was
still in business,” Johnson said.
In the weeks since the fierce windstorm descended on the
region, the city has estimated more than 65 percent of
its businesses suffered some form of property damage or
revenue loss.
The estimates are based on a sampling of survey
responses collected by the city. Most of the reported
physical damage was relatively moderate, officials said,
totaling as little as $500 in some cases.
“In terms of property damage, the business community
seemed to fare pretty well,” said Brian Gleason, a
coordinator with the city’s Office of Economic
Development. “That could just be due to the nature of
commercial structures. They tend not to be clustered in
heavily treed areas like residential properties.”
Damage due to decreased customer traffic and lost sales
was more significant, Gleason said, and is something
officials want to give more thought to in future
emergency response plans.
“We want to have an emergency action plan that includes
business impact as well,” he said. “If we know there are
certain economic losses that can be expected, maybe we
can form a quicker response in the future.”
The survey responses will help inform those discussions.
Ultra Beauty and Braids, which was among the city’s most
severely damaged businesses, was condemned pending
renovations.
But Johnson and her five employees have kept the
business going by borrowing space from other salons,
working out of their homes and relying on cellphones and
social media to stay in touch with clients.
“We were Facebooking and tweeting right away,” Johnson
said. “People have been calling and asking if we’re
still taking appointments. I tell them, ‘Yes, we’re
still here.’” Ultra Beauty and Braids got offers of help
from several other local salons.
Johnson started operating out of Lumpy’s Barber Shop,
2412 12th St., to give the business a stable homebase.
She said she’s booked up for the next two weeks.
“We’ve been doing well, considering, we’ve been doing
excellent,” she said. ”Our customers have been very
loyal and understanding. We’ve had no problems.”
The salon is hoping to return to its original Campbell
Avenue location, but is awaiting word from the landlord
and insurance company about the renovation
schedule.“We’re looking forward to coming back. We just
need to know the timeframe,” Johnson said. But no matter
what, she said, the salon plans to keep going strong.
“Ultra Beauty and Braids is definitely going to
continue.”
Ultra Beauty and Braids bounces back after derecho
Sam O'Keefe
 Londyn
Johnson (left), 5, helps her father Dennis Johnson mix
concrete to construct the bathroom of Ultra Beauty and
Braids' new 12th Street location. Dennis Johnson's wife,
Trinna, runs the business and was forced to relocate
after the June derecho.Sam
O'Keefe
Dennis
Johnson Sr. lays the foundation to install sinks along
the back wall of the new Ultra Beauty and Braids
location on 12th Street.
Posted: Sunday,
December 30, 2012 11:00 pm | Updated: 2:30 pm, Sun Dec
30, 2012.
Ultra Beauty and Braids bounces back after derecho
Eleanor Kennedynewsadvance.com
The June 29 derecho that struck Lynchburg may have
destroyed the building that housed Ultra Beauty and
Braids, but it didn’t destroy the business.
Owner Trinna Johnson kept doing hair, at first from home
and then from shared space offered by Lumpy’s Barber
Shop owner Brian Rucker. Now, six months after the
storm, she’s set to open in a new location on 12 th
Street.
“It’s kind of like a breath of fresh air,” Johnson said.
“I’m excited to come back.”
Johnson’s original plan was to move back into her old
building on Campbell Avenue once renovations were
complete. But as time wore on without a set date when
the building would be ready, Johnson started looking
around for a new location to move into on her own.
Rucker suggested an alternate plan.
“He encouraged me to just wait and something would come
up…and it did,” Johnson said.
The pair each moved their businesses down the block to
two adjoining buildings at 2406 and 2408 12 th St.
Rucker, who knew Johnson from church, said the storm may
have been a blessing in disguise for the business
owners.
“We’ve been talking about this for years,” Rucker said.
Johnson’s new location is about 1,200 square feet, a
little bigger, she said, than her previous building and
much bigger than the crowded quarters of Lumpy’s old
space.
“We were kind of crammed up,” Johnson said of the months
spent in the 2412 12th St. building.
But that doesn’t mean Johnson didn’t appreciate Rucker’s
help.
“He was so kind and let us come in,” she said.
For Rucker, the decision to help out Johnson was an easy
one.
“We figured if everybody else can help each other out,
why not us?”
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