Shadeland Station Welcomes Two New Businesses

This month’s article comes to us from Jamia Dinkins. Jamia is a local resident and student at IUPUI. She wrote this article for us as a project from her Writing for Web class. Jamia was also a student of Joe’s when he was the youth pastor at Castleton United Methodist Church several years ago.

Thanks to Jamia for her great work highlighting these two new businesses in the Shadeland Station Shopping Center! 

Shadeland Station Welcomes Two New Businesses

Big-name corporations and small businesses have made themselves known on the block that intersects 75th Street and Shadeland Avenue.

Everyone goes to eat Caplinger’s amazing fish and sides on the weekend after a long week of work, and the Walgreens is the place-to-go if you find yourself or your kid having a sudden coughing fit and fever. The Dollar Tree is a must-go for last-minute birthday accessories, stocking stuffers, or on-the-go snacks.

In these past few months, you might have realized that a couple of new neighbors have decided to call Shadeland Station home.

I took a trip from IUPUI’s campus back home to Castleton, and had the chance to sit down and talk to the two new business owners—Key2Locz owner Zuri; and Beauty, Brows, & Beyond owner Jaz.

Zuri’s story

Zuri is a full time loctician–a hairstylist that specializes in the care and maintenance of dreadlocks. She’s been doing locs for ten years, but has only been in business for about half of that time. “Every year, business has been expanding,” she tells me in the lobby of her salon, “so I’ve been just trying to adjust to the times, and with what God has been blessing me with.”

Her loctician origin story started after her days of IT, which she went to school for originally. “I like computers, and I do make websites on the side. That’s what I thought my life would be based around…God just kinda pushed me into doing something else.”

She draws her beauty inspiration from her mom, and her family, whom she credits in the start of her journey into embracing natural hair.

The story of Key2Locz

Zuri discusses the move to set up shop in Shadeland Station, and closing her first shop located on 25th and Sherman.

“I wanted something more upscale, in an area where there were alot more opportunities for me and my team. There’s a lot of traffic up here, it’s around the corner from a lot of great businesses; I just love the area.”

What brings people back to Key2Locz? Zuri credits the vibe of the salon. The whole salon is themed with cozy, earthy tones and decorations, something she takes pride in.

“We’re very down to earth, and we work together really good. We’re really a team. When people come in here, they feel that energy–it uplifts them. We uplift each other. We uplift our clients. And we do keep it business, but for the most part, it’s a sisterhood.”

The business life, according to Zuri

A typical day in Zuri’s life as a small businesswoman starts off like most of ours: “I do wake up every morning, and drink my coffee–I can’t operate without it, my team knows I can’t go without it.”

The days consists of clients, organizing around the shop, running errands, and promoting on her Instagram. Even when she’s off the clock, and the store is closed for the night, she doesn’t stop working–“When I go home, I read a lot, and I research a lot. I do love to travel, so that’s what I do to balance my work life.”

Zuri has managed to make the previously vacant space her own, but she’s not the only one.

Nearly right next door is newly opened Beauty, Brows, and Beyond. There, I met up with store owner Jaz, who owns and operates ‘Brows By Jaz’.

Jaz’s story

Permanent makeup is Jaz’s specialty, and she showcases it by setting up a small decorated studio within Beauty, Brows and Beyond, separate from the storefront. “I do permanent makeup, which means microblading eyebrows, brow wax and tints, henna brows, cluster lashes–I have another woman here who does esthetician services and makeup.” Her team also does wig installations.

The start of Brows by Jaz

Jaz’s beauty story starts with self practice–“I’ve always known how to do my own eyebrows, and I’ve arched and shaped people’s eyebrows before.”

Her discovery of permanent makeup happened at a mall, where she saw an advertisement for an eyebrow service. “I was like ‘whoa, what is that and why is it 700, 800 dollars?’ I looked it up and looked into it, and found that it was a permanent makeup procedure. That got me to a point where I was interesting in doing it.”

She says making herself home in Castleton was an easy decision. “It was an available space, it was close to where I live, and it’s also a really nice area, a safe area, too.” Jaz also discusses the business and interpersonal problems she had getting her business started.

Jaz the Businesswoman

She had doubt from people she knew, but didn’t let it get to her. “People not believing in you–I feel that that’s going to happen regardless of who you are.” Getting into beauty was also a trial-and-error lesson in the making, as she had struggles with “messing up on people” when she first started.

Perseverance, for Jaz, was a leading factor as to why she is where she is now. She talks about how if someone owns a business, there’s no room for self doubt if you mess up–”you’re not gonna do a great job the first time…it’s not a good thing to let one [mistake] ruin everything.”

“My favorite part about being a business owner is having my space, and my own shop.” And Jaz has certainly made the shop her own.

The well-lit space is themed with purples and sparkle, with music playing from the front TV, and echoing throughout the studio. It’s a space that makes you feel refreshed and energized, and one that radiates Black feminine energy.

Hopes for the future

Although Jaz loves the area and where she’s at, she does have hopes for bigger. I asked her about what her “I Made It” dream moment would look like: “I would wake up to, like, 10,000 new followers on Tiktok or Instagram, I would wake up to tons of new bookings, and would get a call from someone saying that they’d like to book an appointment, and me saying something like “I’m booked out ‘til February”, or something like that. This,” she motions to the studio, “is an accomplishment, and I thank God for everything, but that scenario would be my “I Made It”.”

Jaz’s eyes are set on success, which she touches on again when I ask her what advice she would give to women who wish to start their own business:

“Start it and stick with it; there’s no way it’s not going to succeed if you start it and stick with it. People thinking you can’t do something shouldn’t make you feel low, that should make you feel stronger. That should make you say, “Okay, let me go ahead and show them what I’m about to do.” It’s a really good feeling to accomplish something you never thought you could’ve, or to so something that people didn’t believe you could do.”

Salons are a Sisterhood

Being inside these salons reminded me of the times I would go to the hair salon with my mother, and the hours upon hours I would be moving into and out of chairs getting a style done for school or a holiday. Immediately, being inside these businesse felt like home.

Key2Locz and Beauty, Brows, and Beyond are reminders of the epitome of hair salons–safe spaces for women, and beacons of sisterhood. I’m more than excited to see how the two new additions to the North Shadeland community will thrive, and I’m even more thrilled to welcome gorgeous spaces not only owned by, but taken care of, by black women.

Want to book an appointment, or know someone that would want one? Contact Zuri and Jaz below for bookings and hours:

*masks are required inside both establishments*

Beauty, Brows, & Beyond

7405 Shadeland Avenue, Indianapolis, IN, 46250
(317)252-1136
browsbyjaz@gmail.com
browsbyjaz.com