For years, clients would walk into Nora Hartzell and Dani Zingale’s salon appointments with a Starbucks coffee in hand.
“We would joke that what they really wanted when we asked what they’d like to drink was a latte,” Nora Hartzell said. “I kept thinking … why not just put a coffee shop inside a salon?”
That dream is now Small Change, a hybrid salon and café tucked inside the Hide House Creative Suites building in the Bay View neighborhood. The front of the space operates as a public coffee bar. Behind it, almost speakeasy-style, is a salon home to five stylists.
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The concept for Small Change wasn’t new. It had been in the works for years, with Hartzell even touring a space in the Third Ward. At the time, it was too big of a dream for the co-owners, and she tucked the idea away.
In 2020, Zingale and Hartzell opened Folia – part salon, part plant shop. The idea for the salon/café was a running joke for the co-owners throughout their time running their first shop.
When their space went up for sale, the pair were forced to reassess. Zingale suggested they begin touring new locations. When they walked into a unit at the Hide House Creative Suites, inspiration returned quickly.
“One of us, we’ll never agree who said it, said, ‘What if this front area was a coffee shop?’” Hartzell says. “From there, everything moved fast … it just felt right.”
Small Change, Hartzell adds, feels less like a pivot and more like an evolution.
“What we do know is how to build something with intention, how to pivot when necessary, and how to create spaces that feel welcoming and thoughtful,” she says.
The salon opened last fall, but the coffee bar took a bit longer, finally opening in February. They now serve up a variety of lattes, espressos, cold brews and other coffee drinks, alongside teas and chai.
Experience-wise, Hartzell is candid about the learning curve.
“When it comes to owning a coffee shop? Almost none,” she says, noting that she has worked in the service industry for 20 years, with Zingale not far behind. “When it comes to owning a salon? We’ve spent the last five years running Folia, and as hairdressers, Dani and I have each been in the industry for nearly 15 years.”
More than technical expertise, the co-owners believe that hospitality and customer care set them apart. “That belief has shaped how we work, not only behind the chair, but in the small details of opening and working behind the bar, too,” explains Hartzell.
For the co-owners, the goal is to cultivate not just clients, but a network of creatives – something that feels aligned with the broader mix of small businesses inside the Hide House Creative Suites.
“Our hope is that Small Change becomes a place that creates community,” Hartzell says. “We want people to return again and again, of course for their hair, or for a great cup of coffee, but even more so for how it makes them feel.”
The front café invites customers Mondays – Saturdays (varying hours depending on the day), while the salon in the back is by appointment only.
