TALKING TO… JUANITA HUBER-MILLET

The chief executive of Townhouse tells Amanda Pauley how she built a successful nail salon chain from scratch, helping to elevate standards in the industry, and what it’s like to win PB’s Nail Salon of the Year Award

Juanita Huber-Millet is on a mission to “elevate the experience of UK nail salons” and “revolutionise the industry”, and so far, she is succeeding. The entrepreneur launched her high-end, lifestyle-inspired nail salon Townhouse in Fitzrovia, London, in 2018, and since then has grown the business to a three-site operation – two of which are exclusive concessions in both the London and Milton Keynes Harrods department stores.

To top it off, Townhouse was crowned Professional Beauty’s Nail Salon of the Year at our national awards this year, fighting off stiff competition to cement its reputation as the leading nail salon in the UK. “I had one clear goal – to create a space that was super fun and aspirational for women, while also building a brand that inspires,” she says.

“I wanted to deliver fashion-forward designs that incorporate impeccable customer service and a flawless finish every time, all in a beautiful space. This award recognises what we do and how talented the team is, and it will help with recruitment as techs will look at what we do and aspire to work for us.”

Inside Townhouse at Harrods, London

But how has Townhouse managed to achieve this level of success? A key factor is the nail art collections it launches every year for clients to choose from.

“We have our Classic Collection, which is six simple designs that stay the same; and our Seasonal Collection [which switches between spring/summer and autumn/ winter every year] – six different looks based on what the fashion designers are doing, what’s trending in the nail industry and what innovations are launching,” explains Huber-Millet.

“I think a lot of the time people struggle to visualise things unless they can see some examples of them. Customers can be very indecisive, so it’s helpful for them to have something [on a menu] to choose from.”

The salon is now known for its Instagramworthy manicures, having racked up more than 21,000 followers on the platform .

Fresh approach

Even the brand’s polish menu is unique – with every hue named after a different street in London instead of generic colour shades, a move which Huber-Millet says was deliberate. “Our first salon started in London, so it made sense to use London street names as it’s part of our story, but I also did it so we can easily change out colours if we wanted to go from one brand to another without it impacting the customer’s choice.”

Townhouse currently uses CND Vinylux, OPI Infinite Shine and Nailberry (as a vegan option) for lacquer treatments; plus CND Shellac, OPI Gel and The Gel Bottle Inc (vegan option) for gel services.

Although all three salons have the same ethos, the style and client base of each vary slightly. The original Fitzrovia salon is more like a fashion store in design, with striking black and white hues, and the location was chosen because it “has a big female workforce and huge companies like Facebook, Estée Lauder and the BBC situated nearby”, adds Huber-Millet. This insight paid off, with the salon performing on average 40 treatments per day.

Huber-Millet didn’t open her second Townhouse salon until December 2020 as “there was a lot of learning to be had from opening Fitzrovia”, but eventually she partnered with Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London. It was a long and lengthy process, but one the entrepreneur felt would pay off for the business.

The new Townhouse salon in Harrods, Milton Keynes

“It was a fantastic opportunity to work with a world-renowned brand, and everything Harrods said aligned with how I feel about customer service,” she says.

Although the space is completely designed by Huber-Millet, it needed to be in line with what the Harrods customer would want – something quite different to what she had established at Fitzrovia.

“The Fitzrovia client is a premium customer, whereas Harrods is a luxury customer. So, I lifted the colour palette [to softer pinks and golds], elevating it so it suited the Harrods brand,” she says. The menu got the luxury makeover too, with the salon partnering with botanical skincare brand Chantecaille to create two signature luxury manicure and pedicure treatments, which include elements such as an eye mask and heated massage wrap.

New horizons

Townhouse’s third site has just opened at Harrods Milton Keynes department store, in November 2021, and is the brand’s first site outside of London. “I’ve always wanted to expand Townhouse nationally, but I’ve been super selective with our expansion.

“However, because the space has done so well in Knightsbridge, this move felt right,” explains Huber-Millet. The salon is tailored towards a more premium customer as “it’s a younger, more millennial client base” and although it will have the same menu as the Fitzrovia salon, the style will be more in line with the other Harrods concession.

The first Townhouse salon in Fitzrovia

Of course, further expansion is on the cards – potentially in key London spots like Chelsea, Notting Hill or Kensington High Street, but the sites will be standalones run by the business rather than franchises. “The concern I always have with franchising is that it’s very difficult to stay on top of the quality, and that’s something we’ve managed to build up at Townhouse,” says Huber-Millet.

This commitment to maintaining a quality service is also the reason the brand hasn’t launched a retail product line yet. “It’s something I’m reluctant to do until we’re ready as a company. I’ve seen other brands quickly launch retail and, unfortunately, it hasn’t gone well for them because they couldn’t put enough time and resource into developing it,” she says.

People power

For now, the company’s focus will be making sure its current sites are successful and finding the right people to staff them, as Huber-Millet says the recruitment crisis is now their biggest challenge. “It’s tough finding talented employees who believe in the brand and what we are trying to do in the industry, but who are also reliable and supportive of their team members,” she says.

“We’ve interviewed lots of techs who are highly skilled but they don’t have the right positive attitude, and it’s so important that they do. I think in our industry, there are quite a lot of roles out there that don’t have that security, which has cultivated a culture where the employee doesn’t really respect or value their job – because they are not treated in the right way or valued themselves.”

As such, Townhouse has worked hard on creating a career framework for its staff which inspires, offering them training and growth within the business via seven roles: nail artist, lead nail artist, creative assistant/nail artist (who works with Huber-Millet on the collections), team leader (one at each location), manager (one at each location), trainer, and area manager (a role the business is looking to create soon).

“One of the reasons our employees love working for us is because they feel secure in their jobs, and they feel they have that progression. We also have our head office, which has opportunities for employees who want to learn more of the business side of things, and we have just started an apprentice scheme too,” she says. “We want to do all we can to attract the best.”