May 8, 2017

Meet Agnes Krolikowski of 4 Elements Salon in River West

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Agnes Krolikowski.

Agnes, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started doing hair in 1989 in the busy salon on the northwest side of Chicago. I worked there for 13 years. In the meantime my sister Maggie started working there as a hairstylist as well. In 2001 we both moved to a salon in Wicker Park which was more convenient for both of us. Working there we met many new coworkers who became our employees when we were ready to open a salon. In 2005 we purchased the space at 544 N.Milwaukee. The build out took about one year and finally we opened the door on October 1st 2006.As I said many coworkers moved to our salon and some of them are still working with us till today.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest issued we had was the recession of 2007 which hit us about 6 months after opening. Our growth wasn’t as great as we anticipated and we had to make major cut to our salaries.

Please tell us about 4 Elements Salon.
We are a full service salon so we provide services for hair, nails, skin, and body. The hair salon is our biggest part of the business. It is not departmentalized which means all stylist know how to color, cut and style hair. We do great corrective color techniques and are known for our bridal styling. Education is very important to us so we provide stylists with many classes to keep them current on trends and motivated.

The spa is much smaller than a salon but provides great nail and skin services. Our esthetician is well known in the neighborhood for great eyebrow waxing and wonderful facials. She was even featured on “190 North”

We pride ourselves in carrying only the best cosmetic lines. Our biggest accomplishments are long relationships we were able to establish with our clients who are like family.

We have a reward system in place which rewards clients for spending on services, retail and sending us referrals. We have a great online booking system which is convenient and easy to use. We also offer great promotions throughout the year.

Our clients can always expect a warm welcome, complimentary glass of wine, good music and a great service. We are also open on Sundays which is a great plus.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was born and raised in Polish mountains so my favorite time was hiking the mountains in the summer and skiing in the winter.

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