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Hairstyling entrepreneurs in limbo after fire closes salon

Staff of Selena’s Salon are temporarily operating out of Portage College until a new location can be found.
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Water damage is seen inside Selena’s Salon, following a fire at an adjacent building.

Lac La Biche — From floods to break-ins to an unimaginable fire, Selena Cadieux, local business owner of Selena’s Salon is again looking for a new home for her hair design business.  

On June 28, roughly an hour and a half after the salon was closed for the day, the building next door was intentionally set ablaze. An investigation by the Lac La Biche Fire Department and RCMP later resulted in charges be laid against a 38-year-old male for break and enter and arson.   

Cadieux was making her way back home from Edmonton that Monday evening when she began receiving calls from her clients telling her that the salon had caught on fire. Arriving close to an hour after the fire started, Cadieux stood watching on the sidewalk as a fire raged out of control and emergency crews battled the flames.  

“I was hoping that something would be salvageable out of it, but I had just no control over it,” says Cadieux, recalling how she felt staring helplessly as the fire refused to be extinguished. “At that point, the fire wasn't in the salon yet. We were just waiting to see and then later on in the evening, (the fire) broke through the wall and had gone into the salon.”  

Although the majority of the salon’s structure remains intact, the water and smoke damage were extensive, wrecking much of the equipment beyond repair. 

“There was a couple of girls that lost their equipment and still haven't been able to recover from it,” she says. “Because we're all local, entrepreneurial women, we all ran our own businesses, so all these women had all their own equipment... They built their own business and then we had nowhere to go.” 

Within Selena’s Salon were nine women either completing apprenticeships under Cadieux, or growing their own small businesses by renting a room or a station at the shop. Most are now facing the uncertainty of how they will continue their own operations. 

Temporary home 

Thinking quickly, Cadieux reached out to Portage College the next day to inquire if she and the others stylists would be able to work out of the school during the summer months.  

The college agreed and by the next week, it was business as usual, only out of a different location. 

In a statement, Nancy Broadbent, president and CEO of Portage College, wrote, "Small businesses in our communities are so vital to our rural economic sustainability and recovery.”  

She continued, “We are honoured to join other businesses in assisting a talented entrepreneur at a time of need... While a disastrous fire initiated this partnership agreement, we hope there are more mutually beneficial opportunities like this in our future.” 

Reflecting on the last two months, Cadieux says, “It's been stressful. But thank God we had the college... Because otherwise we would have had nowhere to go.” 

Moving forward 

Moving forward, Cadieux is trying to open a small salon on the top floor of her house on Churchill Drive, so clients can look out across the Lake.  

However, this plan in contingent on a business permit application being approved by Lac La Biche County council. She expects to find out the decision mid-September, but the answer can’t come quick enough.  

“The worst part is the not knowing. Not knowing if the business permit will be approved, not knowing how long we will be able to remain operating out of the college,” she says. 

If Cadieux’s home business license is approved by council, it means she will have to reduce the number of apprentices she takes on due to space constraints, but the switch will have other benefits, she says. 

Prior to the arson that caused her shop to close, the salon had been broken into in December with a stereo system and other easily transportable equipment being stolen. Before that, the salon and the team of aestheticians had to relocate when the building they were previously occupying flooded.  

“It's just all the little things that we've had to endure here,” Cadieux says. “I feel that it would be safer to operate out of my house.” 

Beyond the frustration of having to deal with relocating yet again, she says, “You grieve it because it's something that you built and put your time and energy and hard work into. It's not just the product and the items that you're grieving, you're grieving the loss of something you worked hard for... We had done a lot of work and made it really pretty for an old building. Now it's gone and we have to restart.” 

Looking to the future, Cadieux hopes she will be able to take on apprentices and give back to the community that has been reaching out to support her and her team throughout the ordeal.  

“I enjoy teaching and helping people learn. It's providing jobs to young local women and I hope I can continue,” she says. 




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