Beloved Yaletown salon closing after loss of owner and rent increases
One of Yaletown’s most iconic businesses is about to close and it’s a heartbreaking loss for the community.
Avant Garde Hair Salon’s owner Jon Paul Holt sadly passed on May 8, 2023, at the age of 73. “He was loved tremendously and will be deeply missed by his family and friends,” the family wrote on Instagram.
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Stylist Tara-Lynn Fournier says she’s tried to take over the business, but rent is just too high. Fournier was extremely close with JP, who had hoped for her to take over the business one day. The pair “called each other twins,” Fournier told Daily Hive.
“We crunched the numbers… the space is obviously very expensive, it’s right in the middle of Yaletown, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the stylists to agree to pay enough of a rent increase to keep the place running.”
Fournier says that the lease was up and the landlords were unwilling to negotiate at all and the price increase was too much to bear.
“The landlord would not work with us, would not give us a deal, would not fix the air conditioner, and would not work with us ever,” said Fournier. “No response, no negotiations whatsoever, it was take it or leave it.”
Fournier was making requests to try and make the business viable, but said it was just falling on deaf ears. “I can’t take on a massive amount of debt to keep all these people employed.”
After losing her best friend, and now her job, Fournier will be working down the street at Workshop Salon.
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“After being open for over 43 years, itās a devastating loss for our community and industry. Our owner, Jon Paul, was my best friend, my mentor, and my family. After losing him we were all uncertain of the salon’s future,” Fournier wrote on Instagram.
According to Fournier, the salon had a potential new owner back out last minute, so she and her partner tried to step up to see if they could take it over. “The costs in this city and this location were too high to keep the salon running,” she wrote, saying that these have been some of the saddest months of her life.
“We haven’t had a chance to mourn, his station is still empty without him there,” she told Daily Hive.
JP was a big community member in Yaletown and put lots of effort into making his store beautiful, working with the Yaletown Business Association, putting on massive hair shows like no other in Canada, and doing charity work.
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