Wilson Eidson, who has owned and operated the hair salon Wilson’s On Washington for nearly four decades, likes to joke that when he passes away, he plans to have his body preserved and set up in a corner of the salon.
“And then I’ll just stand there with my hand up, waving,” Eidson said. “Maybe they can even dress me up in different scarves or other products, so I can at least be useful and try to sell some things.”
But for the first time in 22 years, Wilson’s on Washington plans to relocate — from 794 E. Washington St. to a new storefront on the ground level of 914 Pendleton St., the home of the Trehel Corporation and Cargo.
The planned move at the end of the year coincides with Eidson having sold the business to longtime employee Mary Alice Ferguson, who joined Wilson’s in 1999 at the age of 17.
But that doesn’t mean Eidson himself is going anywhere, preserved or otherwise.
“We want him to stay as long as he possibly wants,” Ferguson said to which Eidson added, “You know they can’t just get rid of me that easy.”
But the relocation begs the question: If Wilson’s is no longer on Washington, will the name of the brand have to change?
Ferguson said they’d been preparing for that possibility for years.
“You’ll see in all our advertisements, it says, ‘WOW,’” an acronym for Wilson’s On Washington, she said. “Our graphics and everything have been moving to that point for years, since Wilson established the WOW brand all the way back in 1986. So even though we’re the same, we’re now branded officially as WOW.”
Once WOW salon relocates to its new home, its former location will be taken over by Downtown Dental, the general dental practice now operating out of 44 E. McBee beside Greektown Grille.
For Ferguson, her new role as owner has been years in the making. She’s worked just about every role possible, from front desk operator to senior stylist, although she still wasn’t quite sure how customers and staff would react to the news.
But Eidson knew all would be well.
“What was amazing was, when they made the announcement, everybody was like, ‘Oh, it’s Mary Alice taking over? Well, okay then,’” Eidson said, adding that all the current stylists signed up to move to the new location.
“And that made me feel so much better, because I really had no clue what the response would be,” Ferguson said. “I didn’t know if I had to be prepared for a coup, but it was so reassuring how supportive our staff and everybody else has been.”
The new location will be larger (about 6,000 square feet) than the current spot (4,650 square feet), with two garage doors that can open when the weather is pleasant.
“Honestly, we love the new space,” Ferguson said. “We want to make sure people in this post-pandemic world are taken care of and feel comfortable when they come to us.”
The new location will open at the start of 2022.
