HARLINGEN — It may only be skin deep, but some beauty has staying power.
Valley Beauty Supply, a family-owned local store located at 413 W. Harrison Ave., is celebrating its 100th year in business.
The founding of the business came about because there weren’t enough barbers in Harlingen.
“My great-grandfather is Federico Lopez Sr., and he came from Mexico,” said co-owner and purchasing manager James X. Lopez Jr. “He was living in Mexico, and he heard there was a need for a barber in Harlingen. And back then in 1922 there wasn’t much going on here. … And he said, ‘Well, I can look into it,’ and that’s how it happened.”
Lopez is the fourth generation of his family to operate the beauty supply store he runs with his sister, Terri Lee, and he’s been on the job for the past 43 years.
“There is a fifth generation here in place,” he said. “We had a celebration on Oct. 16. We had a hair show for the barbers in the morning and the hair stylists in the afternoon. We had a party afterward for our customers.”
Being one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continuously operating business in Harlingen has not gone unnoticed.
“The city gave me a call and they’re going to proclaim a day for us, so that’s a pretty big deal,” Lopez said.
The city will issue a proclamation commemorating Valley Beauty Supply’s 100th year at its meeting Wednesday.
Fashion and hair-styling preferences can change overnight, but Lopez says there are recurring cycles in customers’ desires and needs.
“Things come and go. Perms were really big years ago and then they died for a while and now they’re coming back,” he said. “In fact, I’m working on an order for perms right now. Trends come and go and then they return. You just stick with what’s hot and what’s needed by a hair stylist, and barbers, too. Barbers are very strong right now.”
Like most beauty supply stores, Valley Beauty Supply has the usual array of brand names on its shelves, but also stocks items not available elsewhere locally.
“In our industry there are some lines that manufacturers only sell exclusively and some pretty much everybody has,” Lopez said. “Among our exclusive lines, Schwarzkopf (hair coloring and styling products) is our No. 1 line.”
So any advice to other small business owners on how to make it to the century mark?
“Just take care of your customers,” Lopez said. “Like when the pandemic started it was really rough for everybody. We were closed for a month, some salons were closed for months, and when we came back to work I just tried to figure out how to accommodate them more and give them better pricing, which we’ve done since.
“Just keep the customers happy. We service them really well, too.”
