Lavish Salon gets new digs after 14 years in downtown Biloxi

BILOXI, Mississippi (WLOX) - A popular coast beauty shop and salon is getting new digs after being open more than a decade on the historic Rue Magnolia. Lavish Salon has been in it’s current location across from Mary Mahoney’s for 14 years.

Owner Leonie Johnston Simmons leads the ladies in her woman-owned and operated salon in downtown Biloxi, but now, Lavish has a new home.

“Well, it came as quite a surprise to me because my building sold. I’d leased 124 Rue Magnolia for 14 years and it sold, so I had to find a new home,” said Simmons. “It was bit of a panic, but I was so fortunate to have found that the Creole Cottage was vacant and ready for lease. So this has been a quick, eventful time, but I couldn’t be any happier to be right here.”

Having been in the heart of downtown Biloxi for nearly two decades, staying close to where it all started was important to Simmons.

“It was THE must-do,” Simmons said. “14 years ago, when I opened on the heels of Katrina, people thought I was crazy to open in downtown. Downtown Biloxi still had a long way to go, but I knew this was where I had to be, where I wanted to be. I wanted to be part of the recovery. So, when I got the devastating news about losing my spot, I thought I have got to stay on the Rue. I just don’t know how I did it. I’m just so blessed to be do lucky to be able to stay right here.”

Biloxi Main Street’s Laurie Rosetti is excited that the building’s rich history will continue on with the new tenants.

“It was built by John Delauney in 1832 and he had recently escaped Paris, France during the revolution,” Rosetti said. “He made his was to the United States, lived in Philadelphia for a while, made his way down south to New Orleans and then finally ended up in Biloxi. He instantly saw the potential for Biloxi to be a tourism site for wealthy New Orleanians, but there was no place to stay. So, he built the 12 Creole Cottages as vacation rentals. He was the first to advertise Biloxi as a vacation destination.”

With so many of Biloxi’s landmarks erased by mother nature, Rosetti said that Lavish salon will keep alive the history of the Creole Cottage.

“It’s important for a loving owner to come in, care for it, maintain it, and preserve its history,” said Rosetti.

While that history runs deep, much of the Creole Cottage’s past Simmons said has been saved by Biloxi’s strongest women.

“A lot of people will remember this cottage. I sat in front of the old Biloxi library downtown,” Simmons said. “Over the years, it’s been moved many, many times. Every time that it was moved, because it could have met it’s demise, there was strong woman behind it. Kay Miller with Biloxi Main Street was the one who finally said ‘let’s not let it get back near the beach, another hurricane’s going to take it, it’s survived all this time” - so, it was moved here to this location. Strong woman have saved her.”

As a library in the early 1900s, the Creole Cottage was full of stories. Simmons says that she, her staff and her many clients will be sure and continue that tradition!

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