Dean Melchiorre says De-Al Salon has been operating in Great Neck Plaza since 1979 and despite a high vacancy rate in the business district and talk about replacing the storefront he currently occupies at 91 Middle Neck Road with a mixed-used office building he’s not going anywhere soon.
“I have 700 clients from Great Neck and 4,000 that come from outside Great Neck” Melchiorre said. “The village itself doesn’t want me to go anywhere.”
Melchiorre said he has built a customer base of nearly 5,000 people from Great Neck and beyond by combining excellent customer service and fashion-forward hairstyles.
“The customer is everything – we have to meet or exceed the customers’ expectations all the time,” Melchiorre said. “That’s how I approach business, that’s how I trained everybody.”
His customers’ appreciation for what De-Al Salon provides was demonstrated, he said, by the response to an article that appeared in the Great Neck News in July reporting that Great Neck Plaza trustees expressed support for a proposal to replace the one-story property occupied by De-Al Salon with a four-story mixed use office building,
“It caused a whirlwind of non-stop conversations,” Melchiorre said.
He said he received hundreds of calls from customers, concerned he was going to be closing soon.
Melchiorre said the concerns were misplaced because it would be years before the proposal would be approved by the Town of North Hempstead and village trustees wanted the landlord of the property to provide the salon with another space because De-Al Salon was seen as important to the business district.
Melchiorre said his career began at a salon on Queens Boulevard in 1967, drawn by the creativity afforded the craft as well as business opportunities, he said.
He said he soon developed a large clientele in Nassau County and then decided to start his own business to change the perception of the work he was doing.
“Back then where was a lot of snob appeal used in the work,” Melchiorre said. “We educated the client. They have money, they can go anywhere – the most important thing is service and customer satisfaction.”
Customer satisfaction is delicate, Melchiorre said.
If you meet or exceed a client’s expectation, they will tell an average of three people. If they have a bad experience, the client will tell an average of 12 people, Melchiorre said.
“It took Harvard [University] to figure it out and I already knew it,” he said. “I would need four new clients to make up for just one lost – we place value on everyone who walks through that door.”
Melchiorre said he maintains his customer base and keeps his business going by always being fashion-forward. He said it is the other side of his business next to customer service.
“You can’t just be nice to everybody and not turn out a good product,” Melchiorre said. “It’s just a sense that you have to remain fashion forward.”
Melchiorre said he has gone to fashion shows in Europe and in Manhattan to see what clothing designers are doing. He said the hair will typically follow what style of the clothes are.
If you can recognize the clothing style, you can see where the hair will go, he said.
Years ago, Melchiorre said, shaggy hair was very popular, leading into the wedge hairstyle. He said this is very different from today, where long hair is much more acceptable, and short bobs and short haircuts in general have become popular again.
Melchiorre said this has been historically the case.
“When Japanese designers became very big, they were very architectural in a way,” Melchiorre said of the 1980s trend. “The shoulders were squared, the pants were tight around the ankles. Everything went into a bob or it was asymmetrical – very straight and clean.”
He said his high standards have helped him attract a talented staff.
Frank D’Amico, who has been with De-Al for 35 years, said he loves what he does and has a great rapport with his clients. D’Amico said when he is working at the salon, his schedule is always booked solid.
“With all the competition that has come in the area, we love it,” D’Amico said. “The competition makes us stand out.”
D’Amico said the three things he believes in that keep him going are creativity, consistency and professionalism.
“That’s what works for me and what works for De-Al being here for so long,” he said.
Scott Taylor, who has been a stylist at De-Al for 24 years, said many of his clients from salons he has worked at in the past have followed him to De-Al. Taylor said some of his clients come from as far as Manhattan, Westchester County and even Connecticut.
“The relationships have built over the years,” Taylor said. “It’s the level of professionalism we have.”
Taylor said the relationship with his clients is a two-way street – if they’re looking to make a change, he will advise them according to their facial shape and hair type. Taylor said the level of training and education he and his colleagues have separate them from stylists at other salons.
He said some stylists tend to think they are above being taught anything. Years ago, Taylor said, some of the stylists at De-Al left to start their own salons, before their education was complete.
“One by one the clients that followed them came back to us,” he said. “Those of us who have been here forever, we take our education very seriously. The day you stop learning is the day you stop growing.”
Taylor said De-Al is like his home.
“I know the caliber of operators I work with, I know the caliber of the salon,” Taylor said. “I never wanted to my own salon, I just wanted to work for a very successful salon. I’m an artist, not a businessman — Dean is great businessman.”
Melchiorre said he also has his own hair product line – manufactured in Canada — and a salon in Wichita, Kan.
All the products are shipped out of Wichita because of the area’s proximity to all the major American cities.
Looking to the future, Melchiorre said he will continue to operate his salon and is also working hard to market his products in China. But even though he has thousands of clients, he doesn’t want to move to Manhattan.
Melchiorre said much of the work the salon does includes corrective coloring – fixing bad dye jobs all day.
“I don’t like Manhattan,” he said. “People think if you’re in Manhattan you’re something but that doesn’t hold any water any more.”
