A new salon has opened on Kalamazoo's Northside: Karrly Stansbery opened Maren Organic Salon at 610 Willard St.
Stansbery signed a lease on the Willard Street storefront and built out a business centered on low-toxicity color methods and organic hair products, drawing clients who want their hair care with fewer chemicals involved. She's now hiring additional employees to keep pace with demand.
The Willard Street building Stansbery chose already had neighbors in place: it also houses Water Street Coffee Roasters' roasting building, and, per the property's tenant listing, design and branding agency Pair of Ducks occupies Suite 1. The corridor sits in Kalamazoo's Northside between North Westnedge Avenue and Elm Street.
A Cleaner Chair for Stylists and Clients Alike
Maren Organic Salon centers on low-toxicity color methods and organic hair products. A peer-reviewed study found that hair salons frequently show indoor airborne concentrations of volatile organic compounds at median levels up to 175 times higher than standard office environments, according to a study published in PMC.
Federal regulators have been considering broader action on one class of those chemicals. The Food and Drug Administration has considered a ban on formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals in hair-straightening and hair-smoothing products over links to cancer, asthma, and reproductive health issues. The effort's implementation has faced delays, according to Powers Health. Several states, including California, Washington, and Maryland, have moved ahead with their own chemical prohibitions while the federal effort remains stalled.
Longtime client Brooklyn Stanfill, who grew up in Marshall like Stansbery, has been going to her for about a decade and praised her training and education in hairstyling, per MLive's reporting.
City Support for Local Businesses
Kalamazoo Economic Development Supervisor Bobby Boyd said the city supports businesses moving into underdeveloped parts of the city, framing the salon's arrival as part of a broader push toward business sustainability.
That neighborhood-level work isn't happening in isolation. The Northside Association for Community Development, headquartered at 612 N. Park St. near Willard Street, leads community economic initiatives, housing workshops, and preservation projects in the area, and acquired the historic former New Genesis Learning Center property in late 2025, according to the Northside Association for Community Development. The city has also opened applications for the MEDC Match on Main grant program, which offers up to $25,000 to local storefront businesses for interior renovations, inventory, and equipment.
Watching the Event Center Rise Nearby
Stansbery said she likes downtown Kalamazoo's vibe, art, and culture, and she expects more change and growth near the Kalamazoo Event Center as it heads toward its anticipated 2027 opening. The $515 million, 453,000-square-foot arena is projected to host more than 230 events annually and draw 700,000 visitors, generating an estimated $50 million in regional economic impact, according to Western Michigan University Athletics. It reached its structural topping-out milestone in April.
The venue will host sporting events and concerts and serve as the home for Western Michigan University men's and women's basketball, WMU Bronco hockey, and the Kalamazoo Wings hockey club, per CSM Group, which is managing construction in a joint venture with Barton Malow. Stansbery said she's looking forward to 2027 and the potential for new businesses it could bring to Kalamazoo.
For now, Stansbery is focused on keeping up with her clients. With new hires in the works, Maren Organic Salon has quickly become one more sign of the commercial momentum building along the Northside's Willard Street corridor.
