From our April 12, 2001, edition.

Beauty shop re-opens

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The ladies of Guys & Dolls Salon stand in their newly remodeled home. They are Carol Baxter, Ethie Uptergrove, Frieda Siddle, and Brenda Chamberlain. Enterprise Digital Photo

Four months after a fire practically gutted the local beauty shop, Guys & Dolls Salon held its grand re-opening Sunday afternoon.

Shop owner Brenda Chamberlain said over a hundred people attended the open house and toured the remodeled facility.

Door prizes were given away during the open house Sunday. Winners of the tanning certificates were Paula Shay and Stacy James. Red Davis, Bette Kramer, Jack Barton, and Felicia Powell won Donley County Afghans. And gift certificate winners were Clara Mae Carter, Judy Morris, Pat Archuleta, and Patsy Havens.

The new beauty shop is modern throughout with an improved air filtration system and added safety features in the electrical system all designed to prevent another fire from ever happening. The use of wooden trim and cabinets was also minimized, and only metal trash containers will be used at each station.

“We essentially built a building inside a building,” said Chamberlain’s husband, Will.

On December 2, 2000, an early morning fire nearly gutted the beauty shop and caused smoke damage to the Rebekah Lodge on the south and the Newhouse Building on the north.

“We lost everything,” Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain and former partner Linda Roberson purchased The Vogue, a beauty shop owned by Marjorie Winters, in 1980 and renamed it Guys & Dolls. Five years later they moved into their present location at 322 S. Kearney.

Chamberlain became the sole owner of the establishment about 2½ years ago.

Friends, relatives, and co-workers helped Chamberlain get her business re-established since the fire. Chamberlain is grateful to each of them and especially to Susie Dale, owner of Susie Q’s Family Hair Care, who took in the homeless hairdressers from Guys & Dolls after the fire.