Mother And Son Elevate Black-Owned Beauty Supply Store With 7-Figure Expansion

The mother-son duo of Nneka Slade and Kameron Coleman are on their way.

An Ohio mother and son are taking their beauty supply store imprint to greater heights.

Nneka Slade, 49, and her son Kameron Coleman, 25, own the Play Beauty Supply store located in the city of Richmond Heights. After acquiring the store in 2020, they have officially inked a deal, worth 7-figures to expand their stake in the industry across Ohio.

“We never dreamed about this happening,” Slade, told The Akron Beacon Journal per AfroTech. “We didn’t even know what was going to happen but if we failed, we were going to fail big, something like this doesn’t happen.”

In March, the mother-and-son duo acquired another beauty supply store, Star Beauty Plus, in Maple Heights. Despite the generation gap between the mother and son, the pair credits the success and growth of their business to the many lessons they’ve learned from one another throughout the process.

“She leans on me to bring in the new 21st-century ideas, the delivery, websites, marketing. It’s a balance with each other,” said Coleman of his mother.

“We learned a lot about each other,” Slade added. “I’m more of the left brain-organized, structured, and Kameron is more of the right brain-creative, risk taker. There’s a nice balance that happens.”

A Black-owned beauty supply store in Ohio is a rarity. Slade, who worked as a cosmetologist for three decades before her foray into owning the company, understands the assignments. This is why all products at Play Beauty Supply are curated with minority groups in mind.

“People that come in now to the store are excited to see that it’s Black-owned,” said Slade. “They come in shedding tears because they can buy the products they need for their hair. People come in from all over either around or out of town, and most are coming from Akron and Canton areas. We are so happy about the support we have received.”

Prior to purchasing Play Beauty Supply, Slade and Coleman took the e-commerce approach to selling hair extensions. After spending time in hair salons and working directly with stylists to create visibility around their products, the two decided to go all in with a storefront.