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Navy veteran buys full-service salon

Jesse Hollett
Posted 8/24/16

FLEMING ISLAND – Michael Armbruster describes himself as a bit of an adrenaline junkie through his two decades of service in the United States Navy.

His adrenaline chasing days are far from over …

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Navy veteran buys full-service salon


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND – Michael Armbruster describes himself as a bit of an adrenaline junkie through his two decades of service in the United States Navy.

His adrenaline chasing days are far from over now that he’s purchased his own salon, however.

Armbruster now owns the Bamboo Garden Salon, the only full service salon on Fleming Island. When he bought the salon from its previous owners, he ensured Fleming Island residents will have a “one stop shop” from everything to massage to medical injury muscle treatments to simple beautification.

“We never thought we would own a salon and spa it was the furthest from my mind,” Armbruster said. “It’s baby steps when you take over a business. Even though it was an established business, everyone has their own way of how they want to run something. Definitely I’m someone who likes to have all of there i’s dotted and t’s crossed.”

The salon offers standard spa fare such as manicures, pedicures and facials, as well as multiple kinds and styles of massage therapy and neuromuscular therapy, in which Armbruster has specialized for the last nine years.

Ambruster said his acquisition of the salon is a great transition into civilian life, but it’s been a busy two months for him and his wife. He finished in the middle of June, retired from the Navy on July 1 and became a civilian a month later.

The deal, however, was uncertain for a time. The previous owners, Armbruster said, wanted to leave to pursue a more lucrative business in real estate and encouraged Armbruster to buy the salon from them.

Armbruster couldn’t pass up the chance to be his own boss.

But he and his wife lived off scrap savings from Navy and teacher salaries, so they pursued financing through the U.S. Small Business Administration, knowing they had saved enough money to make a down payment if they could get a loan.

“Had a tough time getting a loan,” Armbruster said.

Even with perfect credit, he said the SBA tightened its purse strings and made it more difficult for anyone to finance him.

Fortunately, a company in Maine financed him with a SBA 7(a) loan for $300,000. SBA 7(a) loans are the most basic loan offered through the SBA and offer higher flexibility in payments and longer terms.

The SBA does not directly fund these loans, but instead gives a banks higher security in their lending options by guaranteeing if the business defaults on their loans the SBA will pay back a portion of the loan.

During his service in the Navy, Armbruster worked as a fleet marine force hospital corpsman and several positions, such as a critical care corpsman, all over the United States from Arizona to Puerto Rico and all over the specialty spectrum from oncology to pediatrics.

Armbruster honed his customer service skills while serving in the Navy and said great customer service is a vital piece of any small business.

The salon has five massage rooms with top of the line equipment such as a vichy spa, a machine with multiple spray heads at different temperatures and pressures that massage and relax the muscles and release tension.

“Massage effects the entire body,” Armbruster said. “Everywhere from the neurological system to the circulatory system. There are times when a patient can have a certain medical condition or be on a certain medication and massage is contraindicated.

Armbruster hopes to expand the current use of the massage rooms in the future to provide a deeper salon and spa experience. Part of the experience already exists in the spa. A customer can exfoliate their skin with salt and lemon scrubs then continue to get their nails painted or get a body wax.

Owning a salon isn’t a completely new experience for Armbruster. He owned a successful hair salon in Orange Park from 2007 to 2009, however, his hair salon was 120 square feet – no more than a rented room. The Bamboo Garden Salon is 200 times its size.

The excitement of owning a small business again seems like it’s there to stay for Armbruster.

“The job I had, especially in the last 12 years, I’d say it’s the best job I ever had up till that point in my life,” Armbruster said. “I think the job I have now is the best job I’ve ever had in my life up to this point. I’m already superseding what I did in the military, because I get to be in control of my own destiny.”