Cutting Group Buzzing Along on Silver Spring

After two months in business at its new Silver Spring space, Cutting Group is finding a new niche in providing salon-quality haircuts at a lower cost.

Cutting Group, which first popped up in 2006 at 2216 N. Farwell Ave. on the east side of Milwaukee, then 773 N. Jefferson St. downtown, opened its third location at 511 E. Silver Spring Dr. at the beginning of April.

“The east side location had a distinct feel, kind of cool and funky. The downtown location was more professional,” owner Stefani Miller said. “With Whitefish Bay — (my husband) Tom and I live in the North Shore — we thought we would move after another demographic we were kind of missing, which is families.”

Stefani and her husband Tom Miller started their own salon, Beauty, in 1983, and soon after, they recognized a market for quality hair cuts at a lower cost from stylists that were still in their two-year training period.

That’s when Cutting Group was born.

“The Cutting Group was established out of a need for our younger staff to maintain an income and an hourly wage during the period between getting an education and growing a client base,” she said. “It also gives our customers a chance to get a quality haircut for $25, and we offer a promotional rate of $22 for our Cut Club members.”

The first couple weeks were busy at the salon, as they were offering free haircuts as a promotional special. Traffic has waned off a little since then, and they are currently staffing one or two stylists, but as people learn about the salon, they hope to fill all four styling chairs.

During , they hope to lure in traffic with product discounts and stylists doing trendy new feather extensions.

Another feather in the salon’s cap is being named an affiliate salon for Bumble and Bumble, which requires their stylists to be trained every week by a New York stylist.

“We put a huge focus on quality of work,” Miller said. “That is the primary driver behind our businesses.”

Miller, who lives in Shorewood, said all of the business owners on the street have been very welcoming to the salon, and they look forward to participating in Ladies Night Out and other special events on the street.

“We also see the effort the village is putting into that street. That was a huge motivator,” she said. “They are keeping it a high-end destination and attracting other businesses that want to keep it high end.”

The Cutting Group is open 7 days a week: Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Mondays from noon to 5 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Friday.