Williamsport, PA — Two businesses recently opened on Williams Street in Williamsport. Both are owned and operated and catered to women.
waxed
Waxed opens on June 1st and offers a variety of waxing services, as well as brow lamination and eyelash extensions.
Owner Mindy Day says he opened Waxed after realizing there were no other bars in the area that specialize in waxing.
“In every up-and-coming city, wax bars are well known,” says Day. “I researched the market and saw no one was doing it, so I decided, ‘Okay, we have to do it.'”
“It was great,” said Day. “Everything he has in one building.”
Day was already a business owner when she and her husband opened Waxed. She quit her nursing job in her 2020 to run her napkin company, My Luvkins, full-time. Day said Ruffkins actually ran out of her second floor in the same Williams Street building.
Day said the reaction from the community has been “absolutely staggering.”
“I knew this was necessary, or I wouldn’t have done it, but I was completely blown away by how necessary this was,” Day said. “It’s proven by volume and support. It’s unbelievable.”
Day says what sets it apart from salons that offer waxing services is the ability to perform multiple “intimate waxing services” in one day.
“[Our employees] I took the professional courses and training I did here on these waxing services,” said Day. “Not only have they learned a technique that really works, but they do it over and over again throughout the day.”
According to Day, trainers come from New York for these classes, and all employees are licensed cosmetologists.
Waxed also sells beauty products from other local entrepreneurs for a small fee.
Waxed is open Tuesday through Saturday, and service prices range from $10 to $150. Click here if you would like to make a reservation.
Skeleton Key Boutique
Another recent store opening on Williams Street is the second store of Lock Haven-based clothing retailer Skeleton Key Boutique.
Owner Ashley Foltz said she chose Williamsport as the location for her second store because of the number of regular customers that come to Lock Haven from Williamsport.
“We’ve had a lot of requests to come here,” Foltz said. “Also, with the mall closed, there aren’t many shopping options here.”
The Williamsport store opened at the end of August, and Foltz said it had “a great response” and “a lot of support” from local businesses.
Clothing is sourced primarily from LA and Atlanta, and she goes to shop the store’s curated selections every few months. Items are then shipped to the store weekly.
“What’s great and unique about us is that we bring in about 60 to 80 new styles every week,” says Foltz. “We have him in two locations and online, so we’re always getting new inventory.”
Foltz says they bring up to 12 of each item, and when they run out, they “bring something else.”
According to Folz, the store’s overall style is “trendy, comfortable, and casual.”
“You can easily wear it to work, but it’s something you can transition to in the evenings and weekends,” Foltz said.
Folz explained that the store has some dressy pieces, but that’s not their focus.
Keeping prices affordable is key, Foltz said, and the store offers sizes from extra-small to 3X.
Foltz also said the customer base is very broad in age, with “daughters, mothers and grandmothers” all coming to shop together.
The dressing area has sofas and spaces where people can “hang out” and try on clothes, says Foltz.
The Williamsport location also has the unique aspect of offering a free self-serve bar inside an old vault left over from the building’s previous use. Coffee is also available for those who are not interested in things.
Before Skeleton Key moved in, it was a law firm, with all the old cubicles and carpets inside. Foltz said eight layers of flooring had to be removed to reveal the original weathered wood floors.
“We tried to keep everything original, so these are the original wood floors,” says Foltz. “We tried to preserve the building’s cool history as much as possible.”
Foltz said the entire renovation was completed in two weeks.
The shop is called “Skeleton Key Boutique,” Folz explains, because the first gift was a skeleton key necklace from her husband, not from Master Key.
The Williamsport location is open Tuesday through Saturday with hours of operation Tuesday through Friday and Saturday from 11am to 6pm.
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