Serial entrepreneur Nick Moran opened The Velvet Panther, his fourth downtown business, at the beginning of March. Long time readers will know Nick from his previous three businesses. He opened Riverside Tattoo in January 2020, Local Collective in September 2022, and purchased Bat ‘N Rouge, with partner Chynna Longo, in April 2023. For this project, he co-owns the business with partners Chynna Longo and MacKenzie Evans.
The new salon will feature a range of services, including at least one tattoo artist, Mariella Myers, who is moving over from Riverside. Chynna said, “As of right now, tattooing and hair, but we’re open to any kind of beauty service. We have all the licensing, but it depends on the space and the people we find.”
I’ve profiled Nick and Chynna previously (in the articles linked above), but MacKenzie is new to the mix. She’s from Roane County originally, but she’s “been in Knoxville for fourteen years. I’ve done hair for twelve years. She started at a local salon before having her own business, and then moving to Nashville for a spell and doing hair there. “I work at a shop in Farragut called This Little Scissor. I’ve always wanted to open a place where people feel comfortable and have a safe space to work.” She will continue to work at the Farragut shop while doing “behind the scenes work” for the new business.
Nick will focus on the business and financial end, while Chynna will be in the shop cutting hair. “We have another stylist who starts today,” and she said they are continuing interviews. “We have room for up to fifteen artists. The whole business structure is meant to be really flexible. A lot of salons in Knoxville are commission-based and we are booth rental, so that comes with a lot more flexibility of making your own schedule. You are basically operating your own business within our business. So, if you want to take a vacation for a month or do someone’s hair at midnight, you can do that.”
It is run similarly to Local Collective, though Nick pointed out “Local collective is private suites, where this is an open space. Business-wise, it’s the same. Some prefer privacy when they work and some people like to be around like-minded creatives when they work. Now we have both opportunities. Currently the suite rental rate is $250 per week, which is a little less than Local Collective.”
The current business came about, according to Nick, because, “They wanted to open a salon together to create a space where they would be excited to work. I was looking to expand Local Collective because I was at full capacity and still getting applications. We found this space . . . and it was too big for them and too big for me, I thought, but then we were talking and realized that collectively it would be the perfect size for all three of us to work together.”
Chynna described the route many stylists take in their career, starting out in a commission-based business, because there is a ready-to-serve clientele at a time in their career when they don’t have a client-base. Eventually, a salon with booth rentals works better because of the increased flexibility of making your own schedule and the fact that you’ve built your own client-base. They anticipate having a large demand for the booths.
MacKenzie is excited to be a downtown business owner. “I love downtown and to own a business downtown is very cool to me. I lived on Gay Street and I’ve always been around downtown.” The salon is 80’s themed. Chynna said, “We all collectively have always loved the 80s aesthetic as far as decor and music and felt it would be a fun change for Knoxville. We wanted to bring our favorite era.” Nick added, “It was a very creative time for hair styles, too. The space lent itself to the aesthetic. It looked like the last time it had a remodel was the early nineties, so we were able to play off of that.”
MacKenzie said, “We want it to feel like an oasis, step inside and you feel calm and happy.” Nick added another interesting point. He said that many salons offer wine to clients, which can be a problem for some who want to avoid alcohol. “It’s a sober-safe space. We won’t be serving alcohol, but will will offer mocktails and coffee . . . We wanted to offer a space for people that choose sobriety to feel comfortable.”
The three are excited to share the attractive 1980s-themed space with a larger swath of the public and, to that end, they are hosting a Grand Opening April 13 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. “We going to have a DJ (DJ Bunny Roolz), some vintage vendors (Madewithloveclub, Tiahna’s Knox Finds, Shop Jean) and we’ll have the Plant Trolley there, as well. Also, we are going to have a bartender (Natasha Orsi) making mocktails and a Trucker Hat Bar where you can decorate your own hat.”
In the meantime, you can make an appointment through the website. The salon has lots of nearby street parking along the viaduct and up and down Depot Street and they said clients have been pleased with that. You can also follow them on Instagram and Facebook.