For This Retailer, Breast Cancer Awareness is Every Day

For Creative Hair Design, Breast Cancer Awareness is an every day occurrence, not just a month.

That's because a significant number of women who patronize the wig fashion store at Rosedale Center in Roseville are cancer partients, according to shop owner Alissa Hoff. 

Hoff said about 20 percent of her customers are women who have cancer and have lost their hair due to chemotherapy treatments.

Hoff, who started the store from a kiosk stand 13 years ago and now has about a 2,000 square-foot permanent space at the mall, estimates about half of her customers are women who have suffered medical hair loss. That would be due to, among other things, cancer, thyroid problems, women's pattern baldness and medications.

The other half of the store's clients are women who have thinning hair or simply want a wig for fashion purposes, Hoff said.

Although serving cancer patients is a regular part of her clientele, Hoff joins along in giving special recognition to Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Through the American Cancer Society and Rosedale Center, Creative Hair Design is offering discounts of 10 to 20 percent on wigs, Hoff said  

Creative Hair Design carries more than 400 wigs on its store floor with the majority of them priced from $10 to $400; an upper-tier group that are made from human hair sell for $600 to $1,600,

Although she majored in sports management and physical education in college, Hoff got into the hair replacement industry when she helped a friend running a hair booth at women's expos. Hoff liked the work so much that she went into business for herself.

And what does she like about the business?

"In a matter of minutes I can make women feel beautiful  and transform them," she said.