Morriss and Daughters finds its in-person community through social media
Mahshar Fard had no intentions of opening her own business when she stumbled on the location that would eventually house Morriss and Daughters Nail Salon. She’d moved to Windsor from Toronto to be closer to her family at the start of the pandemic and was still getting to know her community.
“I was looking for a job and then I saw this location,” says Fard. “It was a hair salon and the owner was selling it… I didn’t want to miss it.” The salon is in the Riverside area of Windsor, a neighbourhood Fard says has a tight-knit, supportive community. Fard saw an opportunity to build something of her own and called the owner. They agreed and she began renovating the space, launching Morriss and Daughters Nail Salon in 2023. The name pays homage to her mother who ran a successful salon back in Iran.
“My sister and I grew up in the beauty salon hair styling and (doing) makeup,” says Fard, adding that her sister owns three salons and a beauty school. But for Fard, a licensed paralegal, the prospect of opening a salon was still daunting. There were so many elements to consider like how to streamline booking and how to digitally market the business.
Shortly after opening, a nearby business owner told her about the $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant and digital training from Digital Main Street, a program that combined grants and one-to-one support from the Province of Ontario alongside partners to help main street businesses strengthen their online capabilities and plan for the digital future.
“It was very helpful and (at) the time, it was needed,” says Fard.
Through Digital Main Street, the salon owner built a foundation in digital presence, adopting social media tools like Facebook and Instagram, and experimenting with Google advertisements. She says she quickly realized Facebook was where she needed to be advertising to reach her clientele. “In this area, most people use Facebook.”As her reach expanded, her client base diversified and grew.
Fard says she devoted most of the $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant to digital marketing.
The Digital Main Street training allowed her to explore new avenues for the business. Going forward, Fard says she’s going to incorporate online booking because she needs a faster option for clients that will save their information and make it easy for them to book more appointments. “We’re still using the paper book,” she says.
As Morriss and Daughters moves into its second year of business, Fard says she’s surprised by how well the business has taken off.
“It’s more than I expected out of the first year of business,” she says. It’s still challenging but it helps to be in a tightly-knit main street community. “It’s a very good area… nice people and customers,” she says. “They’re coming and supporting us.”
Join the Morris and Daughters Nail Salon community on social media to see their beautiful nail art and more. (Instagram, Facebook).
Learn more about how we can support your small business here.
Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Meta, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, Lightspeed, Ebay and Canada Post.
Continued investment from the Province of Ontario, through the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT) has allowed the ongoing expansion the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses going digital across Ontario.
