DOWAGIAC — A longstanding business in Dowagiac is changing hands.

Earlier this month, longtime owner of the Scissor Mill Salon and Day Spa Julie Fisher-Fryman, 56, sold the space to Jackie Riggs, 33. Now the salon is operating under the new name of the Front Street Salon.

After operating the salon on Front Street in Dowagiac for nearly 35 years, Fisher-Fryman said she felt it was time to let a member of a younger generation take the reins.

“I started my career when I was very young — 23 years old, actually — and that was long enough,” Fisher-Fryman said. “So, when my coworker of about 15 years stepped up and wanted to take over, I thought it was time.”

Riggs said that she has always enjoyed working with Fisher-Fryman and that she is excited to put her own spin on what is now known as the Front Street Salon.

“I wanted to push [the salon] in a different direction,” she said. “Growing the staff is one of the main things I want to do and making it more of a family-oriented place.”

Fisher-Fryman said she is in support of the changes that Riggs wants to make, saying that she too was once a young business owner in Dowagiac trying to make changes in the city.

“When I came in 35 years ago, [Dowagiac] really was a struggling town. It was before the streetscapes came in. It was before any of the beautification of the town took place,” Fisher-Fryman said. “It really was a struggling town at that time, so us [in the] new generation kind of repurposed the town and got a lot of new energy going and new business.”

At the time when she started out, Fisher-Fryman said she had no business experience. She was just doing what she loved, which was doing hair. Now, despite all the laughs and good times she had at the Scissor Mill, Fisher-Fryman said she is ready to let the younger generation, like Riggs, take over and follow their dreams the way she did.

“Now my generation is at the point where the next generation is taking over and going forward to the next step. It’s the circle of life, I guess,” Fisher-Fryman said with a laugh. “I’ve had very successful and good years with the business. … Now it is their turn.”

Fisher-Fryman said that her clients will still be able to find her as she is staying on at the Front Street Salon as an independent, self-employed booth renter.

“I’m still my own boss, doing the same gig,” she said. “I’m just stepping back from ownership.”