Two time winner of ‘facialist of the year’ to open new ‘high end’ beauty salon in Northampton town centre

A two time winner of a national ‘facialist of the year’ award is set to open a new ‘high end’ beauty salon in Northampton.

Helen Dickens, who is Northampton ‘born and bred’, has worked in the beauty industry for 35 years.

The now 54-year-old started her career in the town and then worked in Bermuda and Australia, before returning home where she ran the spa at Virgin Active in Riverside.

When the beauty therapist hit 50 she started to question why she was working for someone else.

Helen knew she could do it all for herself so she started looking around for a venue and managed to secure a venue in the prime town centre location of St Giles Street.

She said: “This has been two years in the making, from getting the building to renovating it.

“It used to be Jack Haddon’s Florist so it has been derelict for a couple of years.

“It has taken us quite a while to do it up but we are nearly there now.”

The salon, called 51 St Giles Street, will have treatment rooms, a hairdressing area, a spray tan unit, a sun bed unit and a nail studio.

One of the treatments on offer will be the infamous ‘million dollar facial’, which includes ten steps to deliver ‘instantly glowing skin’.

Helen herself will work as a beauty therapist once the salon opens and she has also employed two apprentice beauty therapists. All other spaces will be rented out to self-employed beauticians.

The businesswoman is yet to announce an opening date, but she hopes to throw the doors open to the public by the beginning of October.

Helen added: “It’s hard times at the moment so I’m a bit nervous as it has been hard for everyone.

“But St Giles is definitely the right street.

“It has good footfall. There are always people walking along and hopefully with the other businesses we can all help each other.

“Also I have been in the industry a very long time and I’m very experienced and the salon is for high end treatments.”

As well as the salon aspect, the business will also be a ‘one stop shop for beauty essentials’.

“There is a large retail space so we will offer a large range of beauty products.

“There is no department store in Northampton that offers beauty products anymore so we hope to fill that gap.

“We will also sell candles, diffusers and other gifts too,” Helen continued.