Detroit's Beauty Boom Is Being Built One Storefront At A Time

Across Detroit's neighborhoods, a quiet beauty boom has been taking shape — storefront by storefront, often with a crucial push from the same source: the city's Motor City Match program.

The engine behind it

Run through the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Motor City Match has awarded more than $21 million in cash grants since its launch and helped more than 200 businesses open their doors. A notable share of them are beauty ventures — salons, spas, and supply shops — reflecting how central the industry is to neighborhood small-business life.

The businesses

The lineup is varied. SHE HER HIS BEAUTY, founded by Detroit entrepreneur Latisha Higgins with a $50,000 grant, became one of the program's recent ribbon-cuttings. Others include Pink Diamond, a sprawling "beauty mall" in the University District; Vivacious Lady Luxury Spa on the city's west side; and Beauti Kafe, an Aveda concept salon that relocated into the North End with grant support.

Why it works

Beauty businesses are a natural fit for neighborhood revival: they're service-based, locally rooted, and draw repeat customers who live nearby. By lowering the financial barrier to opening, the grant program has helped turn Detroit's deep demand for salons and spas into actual storefronts — a reminder that the city's comeback is being built not just downtown, but chair by chair across its neighborhoods.