Bellefonte Area High School Class of 2014 graduate, Madison (Stewart) Domanick, and her friend Sydney Knapp just opened their own business in Bellefonte. Monarch Salon is located in Downtown Bellefonte at 114 South Spring Street and opened on October 15.

Madison has been a hairstylist for seven years now. However, anyone who knows Madison would tell you that hairstyling has always been a passion of hers. 

“Growing up I was always interested in hair. My older sister was the same way and she first sparked my interest. I first loved doing my doll’s hair and then my friend’s hair for Prom. When I realized I could do it for a living, it was perfect,” Madison said.

For Madison, opening her own salon has been something she has always wanted to do but just recently became a reality.

“This has always been a goal in the back of our minds, however, the idea really started coming to life in the past year,” she said. 

What sparked Madison and Sydney to finally make their goal a reality is opening their own salon to create a space that truly felt like them. 

“We were ready to further our career and this felt like the perfect next step,” Madison said.

Starting a business is harder than it looks. Madison’s process was rather complicated. 

“First we had to choose our salon name and create an LLC. Next, we had to find the perfect location. After that, we had to file for a few permits. We then did some construction to our space to make sure it was perfect. Once the building was done we had to schedule a lot of inspections to make sure everything met code requirements. Once those were complete we were good to open,” she said. 

They chose Bellefonte because they want to be a part of all of the positive changes they see happening here. 

“It is such a beautiful place with incredible people. The community has already been so welcoming and we are so thankful to be surrounded by that.” 

The Bellefonte community can expect to have an enjoyable experience when they visit the salon. 

“You can expect us to make sure anyone receiving a service is 100% happy every single time. We are so passionate about our work and our goal is to make sure that always shows,” Madison said.

Madison has high expectations for the long-term success of Monarch Salon.

“We hope that Monarch will be around for many years. We want it to be a place where people look forward to visiting and feel amazing leaving. We put our heart and soul into Monarch and we hope everyone loves it as much as we do.”