High Five Salon
Sam Hills, Founding Owner of High Five Salon
Sam Hills’ entry into the world of hair was serendipitous. Becoming a stylist wasn’t his first (or second) career path, but after enrolling in beauty school (alongside his 40 female classmates) he immediately fell in love with the limitless creative possibilities and potential for deep connections with coworkers and clients alike. Sam knew he wanted to create a space where he could continue fostering those connections and perpetuate a core value he has clung to throughout High Five’s 14 years in business: this is more than hair.
He founded High Five in O’Bryonville where it planted roots and grew for 10 years, at which point their flagship location was too small for the team to work comfortably. Sam kept an eye out for a possible new location, but initially omitted Over-the-Rhine from the list of potential neighborhoods for High Five to relocate to.
“I said no to OTR for years, because we didn’t want to be a flash in the pan. I wanted it to feel deeply meaningful and authentic,” Sam says. “But when I thought about downtown, the neighborhood that felt most authentic to me was Findlay Market because of its heritage, its history. It’s a century-old hub with a collision of Cincinnatians.”
One day he got a text from Molly Reckman-Nagle, the owner of Spruce Nail Shop. Her team was also outgrowing their first brick-and-mortar, and she mentioned she had her eye on the corner space on Race street just across the courtyard from Deeper Roots Coffee. The space was far too big for just one business, but it was just the right size to split between two businesses.
“It was perfect,” Sam says. “I love Molly. I trust Molly. I thought, ‘I can do a deal with Molly.’” High Five and Spruce hold similar values, and they both prioritize giving their guests an excellent experience. He and Molly started sketching out a layout on a napkin, moved forward with the buildout, and scheduled their grand openings in March of 2020, just days before Mike DeWine called for the emergency shutdown of businesses deemed non-essential, which included salons.
“I remember coming back two or three weeks later to take down deflated balloons and dump out flat champagne and stale cake,” Sam says. “We were so unbelievably strategic with our launch. It was going to be a mic drop moment. New space. New location. Cool neighborhood. And all of that momentum got completely derailed. But the thing we didn’t know was what the next four years and the journey of growth and perseverance would look like.”
Since reopening the salon, the High Five team has continued to grow and change. It’s home to 30+ stylists, a manager, and a front desk team all working together to provide warm and welcoming service alongside confidence-boosting hair care for their clients. They’ve been settling into their home at Findlay Market for the past four years and really leaning into immersing themselves in the community, even outside of the salon.
Sam values his relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs in the community, and sets aside time to deepen those connections whenever possible. He frequently invites fellow business owners to walk and talk down to the river and back. “It’s 30 minutes to the river; one person talks for the first half of the walk, the other person gets the second half,” he says. “And we do something called ‘Win, Challenge.’ Where are you winning right now? I want to hear about it and learn from it. And what’s a challenge in your life? How can we encourage each other?”
Sam founded his business on a core principle that he incorporates into his relationships with clients, neighboring business owners, and strangers on the street alike: “It’s all bigger than us. Everything that’s happening, whether it’s the business, or a haircut, or a growing team, has momentum that’s really powerful,” he says. “If we can become friends and trust each other, we can make each other’s lives better.”
Published May 2024