Portage Avenue looking a little more stylish Aveda Institute cosmetology school moving into Birks Building; plans include café, yoga studio, rooftop patio By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Apr. 17, 2023

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This article was published 17/04/2023 (916 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bring in the scissors and salon chairs — a Portage Avenue heritage building is getting a makeover.

The Birks Building downtown will soon be home to $17 haircuts, a café, a yoga studio and a rooftop patio, if Aveda Institute Winnipeg’s plans transpire.

“We’re really excited to be moving into somewhere new,” said Naomi Brien, Aveda Institute Winnipeg’s marketing manager. “We’re bursting at the seams.”

The cosmetology school has lived in the Exchange District for roughly 11 years. It’s now the only Aveda Institute in Canada, and the approximately 70 spots available for students is not adequate, Brien said.

“We had to definitely get creative at Rorie Street,” she said.

Especially while following pandemic-era social distancing rules — at one point, the hairstyling school dropped to a four-day-per-week class schedule to stagger incoming students. It’s back to five days now.

The solution is the four-storey building at 276 Portage Ave., which formerly housed a government land titles office. The school is pumping $4 million into its first phase of renovations, including a salon area and classrooms.

“It’s basically all brand-new,” Brien said.

There will be 52 salon chairs, decorative plants and a plethora of hair-care products using the space once taken by Birks Jewellers’ cases of rings and necklaces.

The new school opens May 2. Beginning three days later, people will be able to get haircuts starting from $17 and hair colouring from $28. Students work on clients under an instructor’s supervision, making the services cheaper, Brien noted.

“We really want to see our downtown thrive,” she said.

She said she hopes the school will draw more people to Portage Avenue, which has seen a number of businesses leave during the pandemic.

“If you continue down Portage Avenue, like a couple blocks past where we are, basically every… building is for lease,” Brien said. “(It’s) really sad.”

The cheaper services could be a draw, she said. Haircuts and colours elsewhere in the city are priced significantly higher. The institute will have a store selling hair products on the main floor, and Aveda plans to open a café to the public.

The institute is looking for a café partner, Brien said. There’s a “built-in” clientele from staff and students, she added.

With its expansion, Aveda will accept between 100 and 120 students annually from across Canada, beginning next year.

Toronto’s Aveda school closed in 2022.

Students spend nine months in school, and after apprenticeship, they can receive their Red Seal certification. A new intake begins “pretty much every other month,” Brien said, adding the the institute employs 23 staff.

Downtown education doesn’t get enough credit for its contribution to Winnipeg’s economy, said Jino Distasio, a University of Winnipeg urban geography professor.

More than 25,000 people — students and post-secondary staff — regularly make their way downtown, Distasio said.

“We absolutely need to reinvigorate Portage Avenue,” he said. “(Initiatives) that offer training, plus a public-facing kind of interaction like the salon… the importance of that is very high.”

An eatery could lead to more walk-up traffic, Distasio added.

Aveda Institute Winnipeg’s second phase of renovations includes the café, a rooftop patio and a yoga studio and gym. The roughly $1.5 million construction will begin next year, Brien said.

“We don’t want to just design a school. We want to design a full wellness experience for the students,” she said. “We really want this facility to serve the whole person.”

The fitness space will be exclusive to students and staff, Brien said. The rooftop patio will likely be open to the public during events.

“It’s a fantastic investment for downtown,” Pamela Hardman, marketing director for the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, said of the school’s relocation.

The city’s core can’t rely solely on workers — residents and students are needed, Hardman said.

Aveda will work with the Downtown Community Safety Partnership to educate students to protect themselves in the area, Brien said.

She wouldn’t disclose tuition costs, but the fee will likely increase with renovations, she said.

Aveda salons — there are 12 in Winnipeg, including Verde salons — like to hire Aveda-trained stylists, she said.

Graduates have launched their own Winnipeg businesses, including Fifth Hair Lounge & Beauty Bar and Blush + Blonde.

The industry is growing, Brien said. Approximately 3,000 people work in Manitoba’s hairstyling and barber industry, according to Government of Canada data.

Across Canada, an expected 42,500 hairstyling and barber jobs are expected to open by 2031, with just 35,200 job seekers to fill them, the government projects.

The fourth floor of the downtown Winnipeg institute is available for rent, Brien said. The building has received a LEED silver certification, which is given to green building strategies.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com