LICENSE TO SIP

Date: September 9, 2006 Section: VIRGINIA Page: A1

By    Andrew Kantor andrew.kantor@roanoke.com 981-3384

"It's been a rough year so far," says Sheila Noell, a self-described "lunch lady" at W.E. Cundiff Elementary School. But it's about to get a little better.

Noell is sitting in a salon chair at The Best Little Hairhouse in Vinton, and she's just been handed a strawberry daiquiri-flavored wine cooler. Providing the cooler, and about to color and cut her hair, is Pam Mitchell, owner of the Best Little Hairhouse and proud holder of one of only six day-spa liquor licenses in Virginia. In July 2005 the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control began offering day-spa liquor licenses, thanks to a House of Delegates bill sponsored by Del. Terrie Suit, R-Virginia Beach, in part, she said, because women need a drink during a leg waxing.

The hairy legs of Suit's constituents today allow Mitchell to serve complimentary glasses of wine, beer or wine coolers to customers. Don't look to be enjoying a cold one at your corner barber, though. The law requires a salon to have both a licensed cosmetologist and a licensed massage therapist to qualify as a day spa.

The Best Little Hairhouse has both, and Mitchell was happy to take the state up on its offer. Her plan was to add to the salon's ambiance -- to the comfy chairs, relaxing music and congenial atmosphere already there.

"I wanted it to be very homey and inviting," she said. A little more homey and inviting, that is, than simply serving soft drinks and cookies, which she has always done.

Customers get to choose their poison; Mitchell stocks pinot grigio, white zinfandel and merlot wines, as well as Heineken beer and strawberry daiquiri-flavored wine coolers. The law lets her serve two 5-ounce glasses of wine, one beer, or one wine cooler, all of which is kept under lock and key, per ABC regulations. And Mitchell has become well-versed in those rules -- not to mention the bureaucracy needed to be allowed to serve in the first place.

At least one salon was turned off by the thought of that bureaucracy. Like several in the area, St. Pierre Salon, Day Spa & Academy in Salem served the occasional glass of wine to clients, unaware it was breaking the law.

But "once we found out there were a couple of salons in the area that got in trouble for it," said manager Shae Baxter, it stopped the practice.

Good thing, too.

If you sipped a glass of merlot provided by your unlicensed beautician, he or she "would be deemed a common nuisance," according to Beth Straeten, spokeswoman for the Virginia ABC. That's a class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in the slammer and a $2,500 fine.

And you who did the sipping? You could be charged with drinking in public -- a class 4 misdemeanor, carrying a fine of up to $250.

So, for the privilege of offering her clients a little something extra, Mitchell had to shell out $65 to apply for the license, plus $20 for a background check on each of her managers. Once approved, she had to pay another $100 for an annual license. (Had she owned a small saloon instead of a salon, the license would cost $560 per year.)

Mitchell also had to provide proof that each stylist and massage therapist there was certified by the state. The end result, after nine months of fees and paperwork, was a single piece of paper she has on display: her bona fide ABC license. She started serving in May.

Meanwhile, St. Pierre has no plans to serve wine again. The expense and paperwork for a license is a bit too much right now, although, Baxter said, "Our clients would really like us to."

Customers at the Best Little Hairhouse seem pleased. Reaction, Mitchell said, has been uniformly positive, if a bit surprised. She's not advertising the service, so customers find out about it when they walk in.

When Noell was offered a drink, for example, she immediately said yes -- but when Mitchell brought her a bright-red wine cooler in a large crystal goblet, she was taken aback. "You were serious?" she asked.

Once the initial surprise wears off, Hairhouse clients take to the suggestion like ducks to water. Water with a little kick, anyway.

"I think a glass of wine is excellent," said Stephanie Merlin (no relation) as she sipped a glass of white zinfandel while mid-pedicure. "It's a way to relax on top of everything else."

Observing from the sidelines, as it were, massage therapist Nita Weikel offered her take. "In there, on the pedicure chair, with their glass of wine -- you wouldn't believe how many of them liken themselves to princesses," she said.

In a good way, that is.

Sandy Ginter of Hardy, another customer, also gave the wine service a thumbs up. "It makes the whole thing more relaxing," she said. "To me it's very upscale to be able to enjoy it [alcohol] in a salon."

She also recognizes the marketing potential for Mitchell. "It's part of catering to what women want."