A beauty school wants a change of scenery.
Ravenscroft Beauty College plans to invest at least $1 million and relocate from Maplewood Plaza to the former Anchor Room Christian bookstore building about a mile away to give its 200 students more room and their school a campus-like atmosphere, owner Sid McQueary said. Anchor Room closed three years ago.
The school has been in Maplewood Plaza for the past 15 years, but congestion and a desire to have his own space prompted the move to 4530 Lahmeyer Road. A church still worships in the space, but McQueary said he would share an area with the congregation. The transition should be completed by year’s end.
“I could have (bought) a building many times over for what I’m paying (in rent), but we were looking for the right location,” McQueary said. “The building is on 12 acres, so this will give us our own area. We gutted the place and are doing a lot of work. We’re painting and doing other renovations. We really wanted the school to have the presence of a campus.”
The new location has 23,000 square feet, which would almost double the space now used by the college that includes a workshop for students and patrons. The school offers classes in cosmetology, barbering, esthetics and manicuring. Ravenscroft Beauty College also provides enrollment, advising and financial assistance information.
Flo Woodward, cosmetology manager at the school, said she believes students will benefit from being away from the hustle and bustle of a strip mall.
“It gets to be a hassle here sometimes with parking,” she said, “So this would be nice for the students and clients.”
There are a handful of beauty schools in northeast Indiana with Ravenscroft likely being among the oldest, based on more than a half century of instruction. Interestingly, Anchor Room also moved from Maplewood Plaza to the Lahmeyer Road location.
“It’s time for us to have our own place and not just be a little school inside a strip mall,” McQueary said.
