About Us
a michael levine salon group
In 1998, Michael and Liz opened their first salon, called Statik and since that time have conceived, designed and opened 9 different hair salons under various brands and concepts, such as Caramel, Tao, Space and the Vancouver Hairdressing Academy.
Michael and Liz are hairdressers first and foremost and are passionate about raising service standards within the hairdressing industry.
Taking their inspiration from restaurants and hotels and only the best hair salons world-wide, Michael and Liz have always strived to provide the best, most unique and most importantly consistent services to their clients.
Discovering that just giving someone a good haircut is not enough, Michael Levine Salons try their hardest to give every guest a "haircut experience."
Our Culture and Success Comes From an Idea
From their 4 chair salon in Gastown called Statik, owners Michael Levine and Liz Abreu decided in 2000 to develop young talent through apprenticeships and only hire established stylists if they were from outside the city or had little to no clientele rather than try to lure existing, established stylists with clientele away from the salons where they were currently employed.
The reasoning for this was that they had seen too many salons where the owners were not able to establish consistent systems of service and maintain high standards. Michael and Liz had seen too many times that when a salon is built by hiring established stylists, the salon likely hasn't built a system for success and often won't have any real culture.
Michael and Liz studied many salon companies and tried to emulate the best and avoid the pitfalls other owners faced. They also studied restaurants and hotels across North America, since that was Michael's background before discovering hairdressing. It was in these trips around the world that they found how to marry the creative world of hairdressing with the consistent service and product standards of the hotel and restaurant world.
Michael and Liz also never wanted to be involved in the breakdown of another business by accepting that salon's disgruntled staff. Salon ownership is hard enough without the competition attempting to lure away your best talent, and they had seen enough staff walk-outs and salon closures to not want to be a part of that cycle.
A Michael Levine Salon Group is proud to have grown from a desire to make a difference in an industry and in the lives of people by giving them a chance and opportunity to be great.
With a loyal team of 45 in Caramel and Space and the success of their ground-breaking hair school, the Vancouver Hairdressing Academy, a michael levine salon group proves what ordinary people looking beyond the status quo can do.