Mother-daughter duo take over Catch-A-Tan

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This article was published 25/08/2018 (2783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

By selling Catch-A-Tan to the mother-daughter duo of Laurie and Sheena Jackson, Tracy Delmage has upset her routine.

For the past 24 years, she has woken up early to operate the tanning salon at 1502 Rosser Ave., alongside working her other career as a hairdresser.

Last week, when she wrapped up training the Jackson duo, she found herself at a loss, wondering what she should do next.

Despite giving up a huge part of herself by saying goodbye to her longtime business, she said now was the time to retire.

With her husband retired, she said that this is a good means of spending more time with him at their acreage, and that after working steadily since she was 12 years of age she’d put in enough hours.

“I’ll be fast forgotten,” she said with a shrug, adding that of all the tire-kickers who considered purchasing her business, Laurie and Sheena seemed like the most committed from the start.

“I’m very happy it’s them,” she said, adding that they seem like a good fit for the downtown business and genuinely seem to care about the work that they do.

Sheena —the younger of the two — said that she considers her mother her best friend, which should help in their working relationship.

“We might actually see less of each other,” Laurie said, adding that since she will be working during the day and her daughter will be working evenings and weekends, there will be little overlap between the two of them.

Sheena is employed during days as an educational assistant with the Brandon School Division, with the tanning salon filling in much of what would otherwise be spare time, which she said she doesn’t have a problem with.

“I’m a hard worker and I love working,” she said. “Work is kind of my happy place, so I’m totally fine with being busy all of the time.”

It appears as though a willingness to work long days is a longstanding trait among Catch-A-Tan’s owners, with Delmage sharing a similar sentiment.

With small businesses such as this, she said that the owners need to work long hours in order to keep things profitable — a lesson that both Laurie and Sheena Jackson said that they’ve already absorbed and accepted.

Prior to taking over as owners of the independently owned and operated business, Sheena said that she joined her mother in tanning there for approximately 10 years.

Looking around for business opportunities, she said that when she saw Delmage advertise Catch-A-Tan on Facebook, it caught her eye as the perfect fit for them.

“We liked Tracy, we liked coming in here to chat —the relaxed atmosphere, the people who would come in here, the vibe,” she said, adding that only a few days into their ownership, “We love it so far.”

The business has gone through some significant change since it first opened, Delmage said, adding that while improved public consciousness as to healthier tanning practices has meant people visit the salon less frequently than they might have in the past, their spots have been filled by more people using their services in general.

At one point, she said that she even expanded the business into the neighbouring space. While there was an increase in business, it didn’t result in a doubling in profits to counteract the roughly doubling of expenses, so it was pared back down.

Right now, she said that the business is just as it should be, and well positioned for Laurie and Sheena to move it forward.

Convinced that her “baby” is in good hands, Delmage said that she hopes that the two have as positive an experience with Catch-A-Tan as she has had.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB