After 31 years of owning and operating A Touch of Elegance, a wig shop on South Broadway in Santa Maria, Vicki Stovall-McKinley is looking forward to retirement.
She purchased the shop, which first opened 56 years ago, shortly after finishing beauty school when she was 30 years old. Stovall-McKinley said she felt compelled to visit the shop while driving past it at a time when she was asking God for help finding a career path.
She walked in and met the previous owner, who was looking to sell the business because his wife had recently passed away. After a few meetings and phone calls, Stovall-McKinley bought the store. But with more than three decades at the shop, she’s ready to retire and travel with her husband, who also retired earlier this year.
“[The previous owner] passed the baton to me, and now I’m looking to pass the baton to someone else,” Stovall-McKinley said.
People visit the store for a variety of reasons, Stovall-McKinley said. Some customers come in looking for a wig to wear with a costume or to simply change up their appearance. Others visit the store looking to buy a wig because they’ve lost their hair due to medical issues. She said that about 25 percent of her customers are women who’ve lost their hair while being treated for some form of cancer.
Stovall-McKinley said she becomes emotionally involved with these customers—the interactions are not about selling somebody a wig; they’re about helping each person cope with an illness.
“I feel honored I’ve been able to be here and help our community like this,” Stovall-McKinley said. “I believe it’s a service.”
Over the years, Stovall-McKinley said, the best part of the job has been experiencing the transformation that some customers go through. They arrive devastated from losing their hair and leave the store looking and feeling like themselves again after finding the right wig.
“I think the most rewarding part of this business is as they’re leaving, or sitting in the chair, and they’re going, ‘I look like me. I still look like me.’” Stovall-McKinley said.
The store has had a partner for years in helping facilitate these kinds of transformations. The nonprofit Hats for Hope provides people who lose their hair during cancer treatment with vouchers for wigs that they can redeem at A Touch of Elegance and other shops. Stovall-McKinley said while the nonprofit passes out vouchers, she also contacts the group and requests vouchers for customers who come into the store.
“[Hats for Hope] is a gift,” she said. “Not every community has that.”
Now, as she prepares for retirement, Stovall-McKinley said she wants to find the right person who’s interested in buying the shop and carrying on a legacy of not just selling wigs to customers, but genuinely helping them.
“It’s something where you really want someone with a heart; otherwise, it’s just going to turn into something wrong,” Stovall-McKinley said.
To contact A Touch of Elegance and Stovall-McKinley, call (805) 925-1550. The shop is located at 421 S. Broadway.
Highlights
• The eighth annual Veterans Stand Down event takes place on Oct. 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Santa Maria Fairpark. The event assists homeless and at-risk veterans by serving hot food and providing access to services, clothing, and hygiene products.
• On Oct. 2, Allan Hancock College announced that Santa Maria resident Barbara Andrastek bequeathed $380,000 to the college’s nursing programs.
Staff Writer Zac Ezzone wrote this week’s Spotlight. Send tips to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 10-17, 2019.