Meet Your Merchant: Maria Sanchez and Marni Bond of Alux Spalon

For this month’s Meet Your Merchant, the Snowmass Sun is featuring Alux Spalon, a longtime local business that just opened the doors to its new location in Snowmass Base Village.

“We love it and are so happy to be here,” said Maria Sanchez, manager of Alux Spalon.

On a recent afternoon, Sanchez and two of her employees worked in the new “spalon” location, which is right behind The Collective and Limelight Snowmass in the east One Snowmass building and offers most every beauty and spa service from hair and nails to facials and massages. Sanchez said she’s worked in Snowmass as a cosmetologist for more than 15 years, first when the business was the Snowmass Village Salon on the Snowmass Mall, then when local Marni Bond bought it and it transitioned to Alux.

Bond has lived in Snowmass for more than 23 years and was a Snowmass Village Salon regular, becoming friends with the former owner and Sanchez. She said she purchased the Snowmass Mall salon two-and-a-half years ago and has worked to continue its small-town vibe and community tradition.

“I’m not a technician, I’m not a cosmetologist, I just bought the salon as a hobby and a way to support the community,” Bond said.

So when Bond was approached by Snowmass Base Village developers about opening a location in the new east One Snowmass building, Bond said she was excited for the opportunity to continue serving its current clients while also reaching a new group of clientele.

The salon has now transitioned to solely operating out of its Base Village location since July 2, where it has twice the space and is working to continue providing top-beauty services in a safe way amid the pandemic.

“We’re really trying to provide an environment that makes people feel comfortable and safe,” Bond said. “We want to create a safe place and to support other businesses and organizations in the community so we can all sustain our businesses together.”

For Bond, giving back is the guiding goal of Alux Spalon. Outside of offering a multitude of beauty and self-care services, the salon works consistently with Pathfinders — a Roaring Fork nonprofit that provides psychosocial support for cancer survivors and anyone needing assistance through a chronic illness, grief or loss — to offer beauty services to its members, and hopes to participate in other donation-like opportunities moving forward.

“It’s really important to us to give back to the community,” Bond said. “Through working with Pathfinders, we’re able to create a place where people can remain anonymous and go to feel special while they’re experiencing troubled times.”

Sanchez expressed similar thoughts, saying she has worked with the Shining Stars Foundation — a Colorado nonprofit that provides recreational opportunities and programs for children with pediatric cancer or other life-threatening illnesses — for eight years, and feels honored as a hairdresser when clients return to her and she’s able to continue working with them.

As she continues to serve people at Alux Spalon, Sanchez said her goal is for the salon to remain a welcoming place for everyone and to do more to support locals especially, showing them that the salon is an affordable, comfortable space to feel beautiful.

“I think some people don’t come to us because they think we’re too expensive and that’s just not true,” Sanchez said, saying there are always deals and discounts available for locals. “I’m just so happy to be here and love all of my clients and hope more locals know we’re here for them, too.”

mvincent@aspentimes.com