The Hot Spot heats up

Columbia City man dives into new salon enterprise

By Stover E Harger III

The South County Spotlight, Jun 17, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Stover Harger III / The South County Spotlight

IS IT GETTING HOT IN HERE? - Chris Singelstad, (seated) owner of the newly opened tanning salon The Hot Spot, enjoys the grand opening of his new business with his employees: Jan Landreth, Bridgette Schneider, Christine Smith and Melissa Kubitz (pictured from left to right).

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Opening The Hot Spot tanning salon in St. Helens has been a learning experience for Chris Singelstad.

The 37-year-old Columbia City man has had to learn how many hours you can put on a tanning bulb, how to maintain and clean hair-washing stations and other info about nails, perms and oils. It is knowledge the carpet cleaner and former lumber worker never thought he would have.

But in February, when he heard the former Caribbean Tan at 345 Columbia River Highway was in financial trouble, he decided to take a risk and go for it. After all, what were the employees – including his mother-in-law – going to do if their work shut down?

“I basically came in and bailed this place out,” Singelstad said. “If I didn’t take it over, it probably would have shut down.”

It was a venture that has paid off already as customers and employees share their appreciation for the effort that Singelstad has put into making The Hot Spot, well, a hot spot.

This wasn’t the first business risk that Singelstad has made. After losing his long-time job with Stimson Lumber in 2006, Singelstad purchased Naturalist Carpet Cleaning, building it up into a successful small business.

He is taking that same motivation to his work at The Hot Spot. He didn’t just want to keep the same customers, he wanted to bring in new ones. So after acquiring the business he took on a detailed interior remodel, most of which he did himself. He painted the walls, redecorated the many rooms, purchased new equipment – anything to make the place his own and fresh feeling.

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