There are some activities that you and I can not live without, getting our hair cut is one of them. The retail space taken up by hairdressing salons compared to fashion or food in our city centre’s is much smaller and yet the importance we place on our 6 or 8 week visit can be much bigger in comparison.
In this short interview I hear from one of the team behind Charlie Miller Hairdressing.
Tell me about you, who you are, what you do and what you love most about your life in Edinburgh?
My name is Josh Miller, I’m the Joint Managing Director of Charlie Miller Hairdressing. I’ve worked in our business since school although I’m not a stylist. I got involved in the business side, and as we grew our business to five salons and a team of 120, I’ve learned a lot along the way.
Recently reading that Edinburgh was voted the second-best city in the world to live in, it reminded me how fortunate we are to live here. We really do live in a fabulous and beautiful city. I love that everything is so close; you can walk everywhere in the city centre.
In recent years, I’ve started to enjoy the festival more than ever. There’s so much on, it can be difficult to know what to see and when you just arrive at one of the big venues and ask what’s on in the next hour, you can discover some amazing performances.
What is it you love most about being a retail business and why?
We’re not really in retail. I prefer to think our business is about people looking after people and we do that through hairdressing. Our teams are great at getting know you, listening to what’s being said and building trust in order to be there to support you; quite often becoming very good friends.
Having your hair done has the power to transform how you feel about yourself which is a powerful thing, I love watching that happen.
Do you have a dream for retail in the future; what would you like to see?
As more and more retail goes online, we are watching service industries like our own evolve to become increasingly about experience. I think the value of that and of human connection will only increase to become more important.
If you were to walk into a Doctor’s surgery or Dentist waiting room (there is zero wifi or phone reception), which magazine would you instinctively pick up and why?
GQ – it’s intelligent, informative, fashion driven and curious about what’s going on.
Thank you to Josh Miller, Joint MD, Charlie Miller Hairdressing