SandStone Salon & Spa – More Than Meets the Eye

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Sisters and lifetime Tenino residents Shelley Jones and Carrie Hammond had more than just haircuts and manicures in mind when they opened the doors to SandStone Salon & Spa in 2008.

What Jones and Hammond envisioned was a warm, positive environment for customers and employees alike.

“We wanted a place that was nice, that was warm, welcoming and healing,” Jones said.

Located on Tenino’s main street, the building housing the salon is made of sandstone from a local quarry and has been in their family for more than 100 years. Maintaining the historic value and living up to current standards was important to the sisters.

Looking to do something fun and exciting with the building, the sisters decided they had enough expertise to begin a successful salon and spa.  Hammond worked at another local salon doing nail care, and Jones went back to school to become a massage therapist.

“We never expected to own a salon, but, we work really well together. We balance each other out,” Hammond said.

The pair brought in employees from various businesses scattered throughout Tenino to lease space—massage therapists, nail technicians, estheticians and stylists. They believed having everyone in the same location would not only benefit their business, but also the businesses within. 

SandStone is still growing and expanding.  With 10 employees, the owners hope to someday increase the number of tenants to reach full capacity, giving clients more service opportunities.

Having high-end products and services at a low-level cost was one model on which the business was founded. Hammond said people tend to think of Tenino as a place that doesn’t have nice things, and they are overcoming that barrier.

“You come here, you’re going to get a good product but it will be affordable. We take classes, we go to shows, we do a lot to keep ourselves educated,” said Hammond. “We want the trust from clients that we do put everything into it for their sake. If we get a product in, it’s true. If we do a service, it’s a true service.”

Live well, laugh often, love much are the words to live by in this workplace. Where goals are focused on others rather than self, and family and community come first.

Stacey Kalkus, esthetician at SandStone, says she hopes to continue to make her clients happy the same way in 10 or 20 years as she does today.

And that’s easy to do, working in a great community and with people that are fun to work with, Hammond says. “It’s a fun environment and hopefully we’ll be able to someday come back and somebody else will be running it and it will have the same feeling.”

Here, they can keep friends close and family closer. “We have kids. We’re close to their schools, and home,” Jones said. “We all here have kids, so we’re all moms first.”

Moms first, businesswomen and community activists second. At their monthly staff meetings, ideas are thrown around for ways to help the Tenino community as well as the Thurston County community—and beyond. The salon plans to help clean and gather donations for Bread & Roses this spring, send care packages to military overseas this summer, promote cancer awareness in the fall and have a food and clothing drive for the Tenino food bank this winter.

Stay tuned and check back for further information regarding their community involvement in the coming months!

SandStone Salon & Spa

372 Sussex Ave SE
Tenino, WA 98589

360-264-5145

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