Icon Salon-Barber Shop looks to provide cosmetology workshops, economic jolt in Farmington

FARMINGTON — Marcy Hower is dreaming beyond just the simple excitement of getting her own salon rolling. She wants to help spark something much more impactful.

The owner of Icon Salon-Barber Shop looks to help revitalize downtown Farmington as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic — being that next economic jolt.

“It’s been really nice. We have so much foot traffic, and people are so curious about downtown now,” Hower said. “It started progressing forward, and I wanted to have an environment for people to have great salon services.”

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Hower also said she plans to hold training workshops for San Juan College’s cosmetology students and other colleges in the region with similar programs — which would in turn help those students be ready to jump right into the field.

Hower said she worked at another salon in town before the pandemic forced it to close, and she was initially hesitant to launch her shop because of the nature of her profession.

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Being that we work in such close proximity of people, it was a little bit scary,” Hower said. “Our numbers were really bad here for a long time, but I just managed to stay on track and constantly had a notebook of things I wanted to do on the other side of this crazy pandemic that we’re in.”

Hower, a 1994 Aztec High School graduate and a certified master barber, said she spent the past two months painting, moving furniture inside and ordering materials for the salon, located at 112 W. Main Street.

Hower said she hopes to have an official ribbon cutting ceremony within the next one or two weeks — with Feb. 12 being the target date.

“We’re all looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, and we all want to see our community thrive and do better,” Hower said. “That’s what was so important about me naming my salon ‘Icon’: to make a stamp, to be iconic… I hope that I can help stimulate downtown (Farmington).”

Matt Hollinshead covers sports and business for the Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4577, mhollinshead@daily-times.com and on Twitter at @MattH_717.

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