Babbitt’s Studio 34 will bring on two new stylists with decades of combined experience and a long family history in the area.
Merri Weston, formerly Merri Johnson, will return to her childhood home on Johnson Lake after working for over three decades in the hair industry around the state.
She will be joined at Studio 34 by her daughter, Jasmine Taylor, who is also an experienced hairstylist and color specialist.
Taylor will offer bookings every other day beginning Oct. 14, while Weston will provide a back-toschool sale on Sept. 5 to launch her tenure at the studio.
Students under the age of 17 may purchase a haircut for $15 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Weston began her career as a stylist at Deb’s Country Cutters in Ely before shifting to Regis Salon in Virginia, Minnesota, followed by stints at Regis locations in Duluth and the Mall of America and a 20year role as manager for the salon’s West St. Paul studio.
Weston now runs her own salon suite in the Twin Cities, which she will continue staffing one week per month in order to maintain longterm clients, some of whom have tapped her hair styling services for 30 years.
Weston will spend the other three weeks at Studio 34 in Babbitt.
After checking out the studio at the encouragement of local friends, Weston discovered she had worked with Studio 34 owner Judy Koponen in the early 1990s at the Regis in Virginia.
“We talked, and it was meant to be,” Weston said.
Though Weston said it will be nerve-wracking to start from scratch, since she and Taylor have both maintained a long-time clientele in the Twin Cities, both women indicated excitement at launching a new chapter in Babbitt.
Weston’s return to the Ely area marks the continuation of a long family tradition. Johnson Lake is named after her great grandfather, who homesteaded the area. Even today, said Weston, most of the lake’s residents are related in some form.
Weston graduated from Ely High School in 1990. Taylor said she spent all her summers in Ely from age six to 13.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be moving back home. I love the area, always have,” Weston said.
Weston and Taylor will bring to Babbitt a variety of hair offerings, including coloring, perms, foiling, facial waxing and more.
Taylor is excited to offer package deals for services such as a cut, color and wax or a haircut and style combination.
