New business celebrates opening, culture

MCALLEN — Cindy Reger expected to have a normal, relaxing mani-pedi at a new salon last week. She was surprised to be treated to homemade Vietnamese food as she entered the salon.

And as she soaked her feet in the warm water, she noticed a mariachi band coming through the front doors.

She had walked into Hermosa Nails’ first-day-of-business celebration.

“(I) had a great time and I will definitely be coming back here,” she said as she had her nails painted.

The salon, located at 100 E. Nolana Ave., opened Nov. 14.

The owner, Kathy Nguyen, came to the Rio Grande Valley about five years ago when she lost everything to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Once she settled in McAllen and began working for her cousin, she decided she didn’t want to leave.

“I have two kids,” she said. “And every year we would worry and think the hurricane (would be) coming. I don’t want to evacuate and then evacuate again. I don’t want to do it again. So I stayed here.”

Nguyen, 37, spent the last five years working as a nail technician at another salon. She decided she was ready to become her own boss. Her father helped her finance the store’s space and she was able to buy all of the equipment from Houston.

The name for her salon was inspired by the business she spent so many years working for — Bonita Nails.

“Bonita is pretty, Hermosa is beautiful,” she said. “Hermosa is more than bonita. We took the name because everybody down here looks pretty and beautiful.”

Nguyen was born in Vietnam and embraces her ethnicity. Integrating Mexican culture is also one of the most important aspects of having a business in McAllen, she said.

The mixture of the two cultures was a theme of her opening day — complete with the band playing “Mariachi Loco” between bites of homemade Vietnamese spring rolls covered in peanut sauce.

But she wasn’t always the confident businesswoman who happily chats with clients as though they are long-lost family members. She can recall when she first arrived in the area and was just beginning to learn the nail business — she was timid, shy even.

“I learned (through working) how to talk to a customer,” she said. “I learned how to appreciate people.”

When her father offered to help her start her own business three years ago, she was apprehensive. She was still recovering from the losses of the hurricane and adjusting to a new part of the country.

And two years later, as she prepared to open her store, her father called her just to make sure she hadn’t changed her mind.

“(My daddy) said ‘Are you sure you’re ready?’” she said. “And I said ‘Yes. Now I’m ready.’”

Lindsay Machak covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4462.