First Elm Street business gets off the ground in Surprise
Mother, twins open their third Amazing Lash Studio in growing area
Independent Newsmedia/Jason Stone
Susanne Ingram, center, and her two identical twin daughters, Lindsey Philp, left, and Leslie Philp-Reese recently opened the Amazing Lash Studio, the first open business along the growing Elm Street development in City Center.
Independent Newsmedia/Jason Stone
Master stylists work in several rooms set up in the new Amazing Lash studio in Surprise.
The new Elm Street project in the Surprise City Center has been in the works for years. But until recently, no actual businesses have set up shop in the area that’s about to explode with development.
Amazing Lash Studio at 16825 N. 145th Ave., Suite 119, behind Better Buzz Coffee, was the first to officially open in mid-February at the strip mall that borders the new street that doesn’t even have pavement yet.
It’s part of a kind-of spa row because it’s situated between a nail salon and a massage business that are opening during the next few weeks.
Susanne Ingram and her two identical twin daughters, Leslie Philp-Reese and Lindsey Philp, opened their third Amazing Lash studio in the Valley, bringing in a business that has dominated the lash market since 2010.
“We always knew that we wanted to be multi-unit owners,” said Philp-Reese, whose family also owns stores in Goodyear and central Phoenix. “Surprise was always on our horizon.”
Beauty is a $30 billion industry, Ingram said, leading the women to attempt to capitalize on that in a growing area.
”We’re not going anywhere,” Ingram said about their commitment to Surprise. “This area has been under development a couple of different times before it actually got off the ground over the past couple of years. We wanted this one, and we waited, and we waited, and we waited.”
The wheels stated in motion three years ago when plans for the new Elm Street began to take shape. The women signed a 10-year lease for the new location more than a year ago as part of their long wait to get into the new building. They have an option for five additional years.
“Now we can’t wait to get that (construction) fence down,” Ingram said. “People know we’re here but kind of don’t know we’re here.”
The family opened their first store in Goodyear right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were still taking people’s temperatures and wearing masks. Soon after, they opened the Phoenix location. Surprise now gives them three of the 18 locations in Arizona.
The way it’s working out, Philp-Reese is managing day-to-day operations at the Surprise store, Philp handles the Goodyear location and their mother is in charge of the Phoenix store, although they all have a hand in each location.
The two 33-year-old sisters also work front-desk shifts at their respective stores because they said it’s important to them to have a visible owner at each place as they establish relationships with new clients.
“You only have one time to make a first impression with somebody, and we believe that it’s about the way you make them feel,” Philp said. “And that is what nurtures a really great bond between not only us and our team but our clients. And as you are building trust, you’re building transparency. You have great customer service, and then that’s why they want to come back, and that creates a bond of loyalty and trust.”
Their business is part of a growing trend for a luxury service-oriented business geared toward women. Their franchise is the third lash extensions business in Surprise that recently opened, joining LashBar Surprise, which began operations this year at 14455 W. Grand Ave., and courtney.lashed Eyelash Extensions at 15609 W. Bell Road.
“We knew from a business standpoint, whether it was lashes or not, Surprise was definitely gonna grow, and be a huge growth area for small businesses,” Philp-Reese said. “And I would say lashes are popular in general. Surprise is such a growing area, so it makes sense for other business owners to open an establishment as well.”
For those who visit Amazing Lash, they’ll find a series of rooms down a long hallway where six master stylists can spend up to two hours working on a client’s eyes. The first full set of classic lashes costs $99.99, and that leads to three tiers of pricing for maintaining them.
Either hybrids or regular volume eyelashes cost about $165. For those who want more volume on a full set, it’s $185. The company offers memberships for long-term savings and to give customers incentives to come back every two or three weeks for refills, like somebody does with their nails.
“It’s just like hair growth on your head or your eyebrows,” Philp-Reese said. “It’s all hair. And it all has its own individual cycle. So when a natural lash comes off that was part of its cycle.”
The women are still thinking about future plans for more lash studios or opening another kind of business, maybe in fashion. Between the three of them, they already own five businesses — the three lash studios, a transportation logistics company Ingram has run for 22 years, plus the sisters own a fashion styling business online.
Ingram admits she has high standards for her businesses.
“I’m probably the absolute hardest to work for, for sure,” she said. “They’re related to me, so they can tell you 100%.”
But Philp calls their mom, who is a single parent, their mentor.
“I think growing up, she set that standard,” Philp said. “That standard is really high, but it’s necessary, I think. And I think we are who we are because of that — our work ethic, goal-oriented. She taught us always that you can do whatever you set your mind to as long as you work for it and don’t let anybody tell you no.”
Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@iniusa.org. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Jason Jason Stone joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2019, after a distinguished three decade media career that included stops at the Arizona Republic, iHeart Media/Clear Channel and Beckett Sports Card magazine. He remembers when airports sold newspapers.
Community: He is a big supporter of the Valley's original sports team: The Phoenix Suns.
Education: Northern Arizona University with a BS in broadcast journalism and a minor in sports coaching.
Random Fact: The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln.
Hobbies: Surfing, backgammon and men who aren't afraid to cry.
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