Columbia Wig and Beauty Supply on North Front Street shuttered its magical doors in the past due December after four a long time of operation, leaving local wannabe pirates and princesses within the dust.
Enter degree proper, young Felicita Chipak of Port Ewen, the former operations manager of Kingston-based Fruition Chocolate, says she sold Columbia for business and satisfaction. Chip, a “cosplay” enthusiast (Google it, consider me), couldn’t withstand when the commercial enterprise went up on the market, even regarding herself inside the final weeks of Columbia’s final countdown with former owner Laura Spacey. Chip now has a brief storefront on North Front Street for just the wings and is looking for space to reunite her costumes and wigs underneath one roof ultimately.
Chip has been gambling with face paints and dresses up, seeing that she changed into 6. “Mom always told me, ‘If you need to be an artist, you’ll never make any cash,’” she recalled. “So having my very own commercial enterprise was my way of doing both.” A self-described “gamer female,” Chipak changed into a microbiology pupil who later studied movie at CUNY. In the end, I went into veterinary sciences, running as a veterinary assistant at Hurley Animal Hospital. After a few years of often dealing with ill animals, stated Chipak, she chose to work at Catskill Animal Sanctuary and Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. She said she could be part of an animal’s restoration journey into thankfully ever after.
The newly reformed Columbia Beauty Supply is present that specialize in wig sales while she nails down the next section of the commercial enterprise for which Columbia’s popularity is understood some distance and extensive — the costumes. Jenae Yelena, a stylist from New York City, has been coming to her Kingston storefront on Tuesdays to cut, fashion, and custom-coloration wigs for customers and the equal for her wig/sheitel customers. Yelena, originally of New Paltz, said she had styled all people from royalty to fashions to TV personalities. Yelena said she found out strategies touring everywhere globally, such as hair-wrapping in Brazil, fashioning wings, and extra on set for a Bollywood manufacturing in India, and hair seminars in Dubai.
Columbia is generally selling artificial wigs, with clip-ins, weaves, and pieces. Chip stated she could be ordering real-hair wigs into stock as time is going on. She maintains to promote all the fundamentals that maintain any level actor or human on the streets popping with faux eyelashes, nail polishes, theater and face makeup, mustaches, and hair products. Chip admitted whilst shopping for Columbia that her number one recognition turned into the costumes, till Columbia-files commenced talking to her approximately the wings. At that point, she realized their critical area in the enterprise. “I became simplest going to do costumes, however then I met the customers and talked to them, and found out I had to carry the commercial enterprise all again collectively,” she said, including that a furnishings employer from Hyde Park just closed on the costume shop’s former 3-tale space on Crown and North Front Avenue. Crowdfunding the destiny
Chip has implemented numerous enterprise offers, in addition to initiating an Indiegogo crowdfunding marketing campaign to elevate wished startup capital to be underway by using October for Halloween, hoping to capture donations from the Columbia gown network. “It’s like a movement,” she stated. Chip believes that with the increasing presence of movie crews in Kingston, UPAC, RUPCO’s Metro mission slated to host a TV film and manufacturing arts, she plans to offer lessons for college kids interested in getting to know theater makeup and gown classes. Chip stated she is witnessing a “theater tradition” develop in Kingston and is crafting her marketing strategy around that. “[Columbia Beauty] has always been a magnet for skills,” said Chip. She is hoping to provide lessons in the new space.
