Atmoshear Salon Takes Up Residence in East Setauket

After spending 10 years in Port Jefferson, hair salon Atmoshear re-opened Jan. 5 at its new location at 46 Route 25A in the former location of Salonbiance.

Owner Cynthia Sullivan said she was willing to move up to 10 minutes away from her previous location on Perry Street, and said even though her new space is smaller and set back somewhat far from the main road, it seems to be working out so far.

"The location is great for a lot of reasons," she said, noting that she's not concerned about visibility from the road. "We have our core client base. I had a salon for ten years and I didn't really get walk-ins."

Sullivan had more than a month's notice before vacating her Port Jefferson location – plenty of time to notify her client base of the move, which was necessary after the landlord sold the building.

"People will follow. They'll find their hair dresser," she said. "This worked really well."

The salon business appears to be thriving in Three Village, with several busy salons nearby – including locations in Setauket and Stony Brook, in Stony Brook, J. Michael's Salon in Stony Brook, in East Setauket, and several others.

But Sullivan isn't really concerned about competition; she said the salon business is more about the individual hair dressers, their personalities, their creativity, and their following.

Lenny DeNovelis, owner of Finale, agreed.

"In this business, it's not just the salon," he said, "it's the people."

Atmoshear is not the only store to depart Port Jefferson recently. , , and have recently closed their doors, though for different reasons.

The salon has a team of four including Sullivan.

"It's very creative," said Jeri-Lynne Lovell, who has known Sullivan about 27 years and worked with her for the last two. "It's a very positive place to be. There's no attitudes. We just work together and we do good hair."

So far, Sullivan likes what she knows of the Three Village community.

"There's a lot of history," she said. "It seems to be a very classy place to be."