PHOENIX — At a place meant to bring out the beauty in others, someone instead brought the worst of themselves.
On Monday, somebody set Hair Again Salon, near 21st and Glendale Avenues, on fire and left it in ruins.
“Just utter shock,” owner Kara Mcallister told 12News. “We’ve had other fires and I always thought, ‘Thank you it hasn’t happened to me,’ and here we are.”
Mcallister said the fire was started around 4 a.m. Surveillance video showed two people park on the west side of the business, get out of their vehicle with a tire and roll it up in front of the store, the owner said.
The men then put debris inside of it and set it on fire, Mcallister said. Someone then called 911 and “they were here as soon as possible.”
But the fire was too strong. It left the inside of the hair salon charred and coated in black.
“The property manager has been targeted," Mcallister said. "He actually was hit at his place of business the same morning. Same MO, everything. There’s been a total of five fires in this building.”
Phoenix police told 12News they are actively investigating the fire as arson. No one has been arrested.
“This is my home,” Mcallister said. “I hand-picked all the things in here, so it was my dream. It’s really sad to see it, I’m in despair.”
The fire consumed not just the physical things that made the salon operate but the memories built there. Mcallister first started at the salon as a hairstylist and purchased the business 10 years ago from Linda Taylor, who owned it for three decades.
Last month, Mcallister extended her lease at the shopping center. Now, she’s forced to start all over again.
“When I look around, I see the devastation, but I also see a lot of potential and we can come back better, stronger, and prettier,” the owner said. “We’ll come back, I have hope and faith.”
The property manager told 12News the landlord will relocate Hair Again Salon to a vacant space in the building and build a workable salon while they wait for insurance.
While that plays out, Mcallister set up a GoFundMe account to help her and her two employees get a little of what they’ve lost back as they enter the Holiday season, which she said is the peak time for hair salons.
“They always say you’re touching more hearts than hair when you do this,” Mcallister said. “I truly believe my mission has been about making people feel good and I hope we get to do that soon.”