Yes, you read that right. You can shop where you get your hair chopped. Sure, buying bags of coffee beans or a special-occasion dress in the same place your mane gets tamed initially seems a bit hairy, but it’s actually shear genius. But salon boutiques/boutique salons are turning up these days across the nation, including in Kansas City. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if hair salons become the convenience stores — and even the mini-malls — of the 2010s.

As a client, you might visit a salon every five weeks or so. Instead of reading a celebrity magazine, you could browse for the perfect birthday greeting card between your mani and pedi. Or discover that last-minute outfit after you get waxed. Or find a baby gift before a facial.

And for a business owner, a salon boutique is a clever way to differentiate your business from all the others in a field of many that also sell shampoo, brushes and cosmetics in a serenely designed setting with local art on the walls.

Revolving boutique

Across the metro area on a recent Friday night, James Pillatzke curls models’ hair for a fashion show in front of his salon, Pinkie Couture. The theme at the downtown Overland Park shop is vintage, celebrating the city’s 50th birthday. Clothes and hairstyles evolve through the decades, so Pillatzke is busy.

There’s a sizable runway and stand for the DJ/drummer collective DRMX in front of the tiny salon. Pinkie Couture might consist only of a jewel-box-sized room, but it’s jam-packed with style. Sinks are shocking pink and so are the stenciled walls, with their clever toile pattern of combs and scissors designed by local graphic artist Sarah Nelsen. Pink is 30-year-old Pillatzke’s signature color: His nickname is Pinkie, derived from the pink faux-hawk of his younger years (he’s currently a dirty-blonde).

The boutique salon was a labor of love for Pillatzke and his friends, who spent 380 hours in January remodeling the salon with vintage mirrors and reinterpreted furniture from Target.

At the fashion show, there’s a rack of vintage clothing for sale. Pillatzke hosts similar events with a pop-up boutique in front of the salon on the third Friday of each month for the area’s art walk. On a daily basis, the salon offers a few clothing items, clutches and jewelry, including pieces designed by Nelsen. But why is Pillatzke taking on retail when the economy is in the toilet?

“The whole get-rich-quick thing is no longer within reach,” says Pillatzke, who collaborated on fashion shows and the performance group Quixotic before opening Pinkie Couture. “So you team up with your friends, have fun, promote high-quality artistic awareness and hope you make a little money along the way.”