The name Lemmond is synonymous with hair salons and has been since 1962 when James Lemmond and his sons Jackie and Harvey opened The Flat Top Barber Shop at the corner of Walnut Street and Jupiter Road in Garland. They worked there for 13 years, and ran other shops as well, before they bought land on Forest Lane near Jupiter Road and built Lemmond’s Haircutters in 1975.
When that shop closed, Harvey opened a salon at the corner of Belt Line and Jupiter Roads and remained there for 19 years before selling that shop. When Salon DeLorean moved into that facility, he worked there for a few years before making the decision to open a salon in downtown Garland.
“I wasn’t looking to open another salon, but my mom, my wife and I went to Roach Feed & Seed one day then had lunch at Dos Banderas,” he said. “We were sitting by the window at the restaurant and I looked across the street and saw the ‘for lease’ sign.”
He was surprised that he even gave it a second thought and said that if anyone had asked him the week before if he would put in another salon he would have answered with a definite no.
After four years in downtown Garland, he said that opening Lemmond’s up again had been a blessing so he bought property at 702 Main Street, remodeled it and he and the stylists are moving in this week. It’s a larger facility with a rustic feel featuring the building’s original brick walls. The new location, called Lemmond’s Salon Suites, will solve an overcrowding problem at the existing salon as well as provide space for one or two nail techs. A massage therapist might be added in the future.
The current stylists, Carole Harkins, Sheila Lemmond, India Fielding, Nannette Gooding, Laura Reynolds and Jana New, will move to the new location.
Harkins said that she is looking forward to having more space and better parking for clients. She also likes the rustic atmosphere at the new salon.
Hair cutting and styling has always been the Lemmond family’s profession. Harvey’s mom, Bertha, was the seventh woman in the state of Texas to get her barber’s license. His dad, James, along with his three brothers, Jackie, Rodney and Rickey are all barbers. Harvey got his license when he was a sophomore at Garland High School and has been doing hair for 50 years.
Harvey is excited about the redevelopment that is currently going on in downtown Garland and he’s glad that he decided to open there four years ago. He credits the DART train for the downtown area’s resurgence.
“It’s a niche. It’s the type living that people want to do these days,” he said. “They don’t want to mow the yard and they want to walk to restaurants and to stores. And, it’s not just young folks; lots of seniors now want that kind of lifestyle, too.”