East Helena hairstylist opens Honey Beauty after long search for salon space

Nikki Marie spent years trying to open her own salon in East Helena, and the biggest obstacle was not finding customers. It was finding a space she could afford. Honey Beauty opened at 3528 Canyon Ferry Road after Marie, a longtime hairstylist and lash technician, kept running into the same problem across the East Helena market: too few commercial spaces that fit a small service business.

Marie moved to East Helena with her family in 2022 and knew right away she wanted to build her business there. Before opening her own shop, she worked at Helena’s Sugar Salon for two years, and before that she operated out of a basement space near Helena High. Her search finally shifted last November, when she found a listing near her home on Canyon Ferry Road. The rent was steep, but she met the owners, Blue Mountain Builders, a Clancy-based construction and design firm, and negotiated a more manageable lease.

What followed was unusual for a first-time salon owner. Blue Mountain agreed to redesign and rebuild the interior at no charge so the space would match Marie’s vision. The company described the project as being built “from the studs up,” with all the stations and furniture brand new. The buildout took shape in January and was finished in early March, just in time for the salon’s March 8 grand opening.

Honey Beauty opened in a part of the Helena Valley where affordability pressures are rising. Lewis and Clark County’s estimated population reached 75,129 in July 2024. In March 2026, county median rent was about $1,600 a month and the median listing price was $518,000, numbers that help explain why both homeowners and small entrepreneurs can struggle to find room to move. East Helena’s own planning history shows how long the city has been managing that pressure: zoning regulations were needed as early as 2003 because of unregulated development and interest in expanding city limits, interim zoning passed in 2007, and non-interim zoning was adopted in 2009. The city updated its growth policy in 2021 after a public process that involved the planning board, residents and other stakeholders.

The salon also opened against the backdrop of East Helena’s environmental legacy. The former ASARCO lead smelter operated from 1888 to 2001, was listed on the National Priorities List in 1984, and state records describe the site as a 140-acre former lead smelter with about 2,000 acres of surrounding lands. Cleanup remains active, with a community meeting scheduled for April 22 at East Helena City Hall to discuss lead exposure, sampling, cleanup schedules and a site investigation. For Marie, the new salon is more than a fresh coat of paint. It is a reminder that in East Helena, a small business still depends on finding the right landlord, the right lease and the right moment in a changing market.