Huntsville Magazine
  • WHERE TO FIND THE MAGAZINE
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • ADVERTISE
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
ABOUT US
  • WHERE TO FIND THE MAGAZINE
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • ADVERTISE
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
Categories
  • Art + Entertainment
  • Bar & Lounge
  • Business
  • Children's Event
  • Comedy
  • Community
  • Contest
  • Editor's Pick
  • Events
  • Family + Kids
  • Featured
  • Food + Drink
  • Guide
  • Health + Fitness
  • Home + Real Estate
  • Huntsville Attractions
  • Huntsville Museum of Art
  • Live Music
  • Local Artist
  • Local Band
  • Love and Marriage Huntsville
  • Music
  • Orion Amphitheater
  • People
  • Photoshoot
  • Print Magazine
  • Printed Story
  • Recurring
  • Rocket City
  • School
  • Small Business Spotlight
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Stovehouse
  • Style + Shopping
  • The Camp
  • Things to Do
  • Travel + Outdoors
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Weekly
  • Weekly Roundup
Meta
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
  • WHERE TO FIND THE MAGAZINE
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • ADVERTISE
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
Huntsville Magazine
SUBSCRIBE
Huntsville Magazine Huntsville Magazine
  • Entertainment
  • Family + Kids
  • Food + Drink
  • Health + Fitness
  • Home + Real Estate
  • Sports
  • Shopping
  • Travel
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Health + Fitness
  • People
  • Printed Story

Heart for Service with Terrame Day Spa & Salon Owners Mike and Charla Johnson

  • May 27, 2022
  • 3 minute read
Total
1
Shares
1
0
0

When Mike and Charla Johnson opened Terramé Day Spa and Salon back in 2003, they were already ahead of their time. With an untapped market in Huntsville, Alabama, the couple was eager to translate their years of experience in the hair salon industry into a luxurious spa with a range of services. The more they researched the idea, the more sense it made—despite the fact that spas were a relatively new concept in the Huntsville area.

Nowadays, Terramé is a thriving family-owned business with three locations in Midtown, Jones Valley, and Madison.

Owners charla and mike johnson

With its commitment to family and company culture, Terramé has become an employer of choice for local stylists. The Johnsons have forgone the typical independent contractor employment model in favor of full-time employment and apprenticeships for its employees—a move that drives loyalty and low employee turnover.

It’s a move that has also set Terramé apart as a company that puts employees ahead of profits. In an industry where new stylists often have to work a few different jobs to make ends meet, the Johnson’s decided to implement a business model where employees could be paid a salary and become financially secure right from the start.

With the apprenticeship model, even someone without prior experience and training has an opportunity to cut their teeth in the salon industry. By way of example, Mike mentions one employee for whom they create an apprenticeship, helping her avoid having to pay the high price of going to school. “She’s phenomenal,” says Mike, “and crazy good.”

“This really is a labor of love. Charla and I wake up every day [thinking] it’s our job to make every one of our employees successful,” adds Mike, whose brothers, Jeff and Charles, also work in the business—Jeff, a talented veteran hairstylist, and Charles, an exceptional marketer.

That’s the magic of Terramé. With a culture built on mutual respect, trust, and family-like values, the spa has the equivalent of what Mike calls the “golden egg.” “You never do anything to hurt the golden egg and our team, our staff members, our family. That’s the most important thing we do every day,” says Mike.

Photo by takara swoopes

In turn, employees are happy and fulfilled in their work and then deliver great service to their clients every day. The goal is to make every customer experience a special one, whether they’re regular or first-time clients. “You may walk in for the very first time and have saved money all year long to come and have a spa day,” says Charla. “So you get the same treatment as someone that comes every week.”

Perhaps that’s the secret to Terramé’s success—one that has allowed the spa to flourish and even open a third location, in Madison, during the pandemic. That location had been three years in the making as the Johnsons secured a piece of land and worked through the planning process. It just so happened that the groundbreaking took place about 30 days before COVID hit.

Although it was an unprecedented and uncertain time when salons and spas were among the hardest hit, the Johnsons decided that moving forward with their plans was the best and only option. “There was really no turning back at that point,” says Mike. “We had a heart-to-heart and said, ‘We’re good at this. We got to do it.”

Big drivers for their decision to expand included overcrowding at their other two salons, along with a desire to continue creating opportunities for more stylists.

Madison has embraced the new location with open arms, eager to experience the magic of Terramé, especially in an era when self-care and great customer service have become paramount. The Terramé trio of salons currently offers not only hair services, including a blow dry bar, but also massages, facials, hydrotherapy, makeup, nails, spray tans, and more.

The Johnsons have built a business that continues to stay on the cutting edge (pardon the pun) of the salon and spa business and offer continuing education opportunities to its staff. Recently, the Johnsons decided to prioritize teaching stylists how to work with black hair. This ultimately resulted in a new full-time role for a local stylist who initially agreed to teaching a seminar on technical skills for black hair for Terramé hair stylists.

It’s just one example of how the Johnsons remain ahead of the curve to create not only a successful business, but a place where employees and customers alike feel supported, seen, and valued. “We can package it as a massage or a haircut, but we sell feel-good [experiences],” says Mike. “And when we can deliver that every day, we win.”

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE SUMMER 2022 PRINT ISSUE OF HUNTSVILLE MAGAZINE.
SUBSCRIBE | 1 YEAR (4 ISSUES) $24.99

Total
1
Shares
Share 1
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Takara Swoopes

Takara Swoopes is Publisher, Editor in Chief of Huntsville Magazine. A Decatur, Alabama native, Takara recently returned to North Alabama after twenty years of living in Washington, DC, San Diego, Tokyo, Japan and most recently Honolulu, Hawaii. She is a graduate of Howard University, a Fulbrighter, and mom of four and is happy to call Huntsville, Alabama home.

Previous Article
  • Art + Entertainment
  • Music
  • People
  • Printed Story

The Grammy Award-Winning Kelvin Wooten

  • May 27, 2022
View
Next Article
  • Art + Entertainment
  • Things to Do

7 Things To Do In and Around Huntsville This Weekend | May 27-29, 2022

  • May 27, 2022
View
You May Also Like
View
  • 1 min
  • Events
  • Health + Fitness

MAR 20-26, 2023 | Huntsville Yoga Week

  • Takara Swoopes
  • March 15, 2023
View
  • 2 min
  • Health + Fitness

Huntsville Yoga Week, March 20-26, 2023 with Light on Yoga Fitness

  • Takara Swoopes
  • March 11, 2023
View
  • 3 min
  • Food + Drink
  • Printed Story

Simp McGhee’s of Decatur, Alabama

  • Takara Swoopes
  • February 22, 2023
View
  • 1 min
  • Events
  • Health + Fitness

MAR 1, 2023 | Enjoy Full Immersion Yoga Night to the tunes of Lizzo & Beyoncé at the Orion Amphitheater

  • Takara Swoopes
  • February 21, 2023
View
  • 76
  • 3 min
  • Editor's Pick
  • Health + Fitness

Local Biz Helps Huntsville Residents Cope with New Challenges

  • Takara Swoopes
  • January 10, 2023
View
  • 265
  • 3 min
  • Printed Story
  • Style + Shopping

Nathan Mason Custom Hats by Huntsville Native Reggie Corbitt

  • Takara Swoopes
  • November 10, 2022
View
  • 271
  • 7 min
  • Printed Story
  • Travel + Outdoors

Shooting for the Stars with Bullet & Barrel of Huntsville

  • Takara Swoopes
  • November 4, 2022
View
  • 308
  • 2 min
  • Editor's Pick
  • Printed Story
  • Style + Shopping

Dionicio’s Closet by Rasheem Pittman

  • Takara Swoopes
  • October 15, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

about
Subscribe to Huntsville Magazine
One-Year Subscription (4 Issues) $24.99
Buy Now
Featured Posts
  • 1
    Easter Jubilee 2023 at Burritt on the Mountain April 8th at 11AM
    • March 15, 2023
  • 2
    Anthony Hamilton to Perform at the Orion Ampitheater, April 8th
    • March 15, 2023
  • 3
    MAR 30, 2023 | Enjoy a Four-Course Dinner with Wine at The Wine Cellar
    • March 15, 2023
  • 4
    MAR 20-26, 2023 | Huntsville Yoga Week
    • March 15, 2023
  • 5
    Huntsville FC Game Watch Party | March 26th at 2PM Yellowhammer Brewing
    • March 15, 2023
Recent Posts
  • Saint Heels Dance Class | March 25, 2023 at Campus 805
    • March 15, 2023
  • Enjoy Travel Pattern’s Brim Bar Workshops, March 23rd & 30th
    • March 12, 2023
  • Jordyn Brummett Pottery, Motherhood, Passion and Rerooting Through Art
    • March 11, 2023
About
    🌱 L O C A L - B U S I N E S S / / Meet Jordyn Brummett, mother, creative, small batch pottery creator, and owner of The Vessel located at @stovehouse 🌿💛 Gaslight Alley. Jordyn is crafting a life filled with passion and purpose one piece of pottery at a time. 124 16
    ✨ B E H I N D - T H E - S H O O T ✨ / / North Alabama’s Florence is home to iconic luxury Brand, Billy Reid @billy_reid . Known for its classic American style and high-quality fabrics, Billy Reid’s flagship store is located an hour and a half’s drive from Huntsville. Learn more about this “Lived-in Luxury” brand and its gorgeous store in our upcoming spring issue. #huntsvillealabama #florencealabama #billyreid #citymagazine #luxurystore #luxurystoredesign #fashion #ihearthsv 112 14
    🥳 🫶 💥 THANK YOU HUNTSVILLE! We're excited to share that come April 2023, Huntsville Magazine will be on the shelves and sold in 100+ stores across the Huntsville Metro Area! We are BEYOND excited with this news of distribution, but even more so inspired to keep going, sharing, and showcasing all of the amazing people, businesses, organizations, that make Huntsville special! 344 75
    ❤️ C O M M U N I T Y + C O N N E C T I O N / / Huntsville Magazine is proud to announce the nominees and winner of our First-Responders HomeTown Heroes Contest!   132 5
    🛸🚀❤️ B E H I N D - T H E - I S S U E - R E C A P / / The Winter Issue 2022 155 23
    💄Spring is upon us and the Huntsville Metro Area is buzzing with events and happenings. If you’re looking for makeup artists in Huntsville, here’s a great list to bookmark ❤️ Check out these eight talented artists who are sure to make you look your best. From glamorous looks to natural beauty, they have you covered. Get ready to be inspired!  Who did we miss? Who’s your go-to? Tag your favorite MUA! 347 90
    Huntsville Magazine

    Input your search keywords and press Enter.