This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Meet the Owner: Hair Performance Salon Suites

As a salon in the heart of Seminole Heights goes, this old bungalow never goes out of style.

The 5400 and 5500 hundred blocks of North Miami Avenue are arguably the prettiest in Seminole Heights, with their high concentration of refurbished bungalows. So it's only appropriate that a business situated at the end of this picturesque stretch be a renovated 1922 bungalow itself.

could be mistaken for another one of Miami Avenue's oak-shaded homes, if not for the filled-in porch and business sign. Moreover, the salon opened in the early '80s, preceding the dawn of Seminole Heights' residential gentrification by a few years.

Today the 2,271-square-foot house is run by four of its owner/stylists and is divided into 11 work stations inside.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

5409 N Miami Ave

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Barbershop” quartet: Hair Performance is currently owned by four of its hair stylists: Joe Castellana, Alfred Sainz, Dana Adomis and Rudy Mendoza.

Salon's roots: Castellana discovered the old house while working as a property manager on the side. It was vacant at the time, but was previously converted from residential to office use. Castellana decided to gut the place and fashion it into a hair salon. Sainz, 60, a childhood friend of Castellana's, joined the roster about a year later. Adomis came under the roof several years later, followed by Mendoza.

On the menu: Hair Performance serves men and women, and offers hair cuts and styling, color, highlighting, conditioning, relaxing, nails, extensions, wigs and hair pieces, and nails.

This old house: “It's pretty nice,” Sainz said of the differences between working in an old house and a commercial storefront. “It's a lot more personal. More so than an open area salon, where people are working next to each other. Here our stylists have their own individual rooms, or have these partial walls separating them. That way our customers have more of the stylists' individual attention.”

This old neighborhood: “We've seen a lot of changes here in Seminole Heights,” said Sainz. “Miami (Avenue) was all older families. The houses were getting pretty run down. It's got a South Tampa feel now. Now that Seminole Heights has gotten so much more credibility, it's been cleaned up pretty much. So many people used to worry: 'Isn't that a bad area?' We're losing that stigma now.”

Hours: Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Seminole Heights