Style and Fitness

Stepping into Studio Stiles in Malta is almost like stepping outside Phillips County and into a fancy, metropolitan beauty salon ... just the way the owner planned it. "That has been a lot of people's reaction when they first see it," Tia Love, who owns the new beauty salon and downstairs gym, said. "That is what I was going for and that is why I love it. I am super-proud of how it all turned out." Stiles talked with the PCN last Tuesday in Malta as she put some of the finishing touches on the location prior to the grand opening of Studio Stiles and Total Fitness which she co-owns with husband, Kirk Stiles. The makeover of the building's interior (Studio Stiles sits in the old Robin's Roost clothing store on South 1st Avenue East) started at the beginning of March and butted up against the grand opening last Tuesday in Malta. Stiles said that the shop is nearly where she wants it, though there are a few odds and ends to tighten-up. Over the two months of remodeling, walls were torn down and moved, everything in her new building was repainted, three new rooms and a divider were constructed, and the bathrooms were done. Now, Black walls surround white furniture and beauty-shop necessities in the spacious salon. "We had a ton of people in and out helping us so that was awesome," Stiles said. "My dad (Alan Love) and Kirk did most of the work, but a lot of family and friends helped out ,and it wouldn't look like this in here today without all of their help." Stiles explained that Studio Stiles is a full-service salon and spa which offers customers all hair services, nails and pedicures, facials, microdermabrasion treatments, microblading, extensions, massage, and tanning and that is just upstairs. "Downstairs we have the gym," Stiles said. "So I guess what we were kind of going for, is a total transformation for you so you can feel like the best you. Working out makes you happy, so that is your mental health, but then on top of that, when you know you look good and feel good about yourself, your confidence level soars." Stiles said that much of Total Fitness is a 24-hour access gym which runs on a key fob system. She said equipment in the gym is, for now, carried over from the former Xude Fitness establishment, but added that new equipment is on the way including new treadmills, and said that she is asking her customers what they would like to see in the facility. "And then, hopefully within this first year, we will have locker rooms with showers, so people can come workout before work," Stiles said. Stiles said that both the gym and the beauty studio can be accessed online, that latter can be used to make appointments at www.schedulicity.com and once the site is accessed, you find Studio Stiles by typing in the store's name and location. Beauticians at Studio Stiles include Caitlin Vinson, Bri Anderson, Mercedes Simonton, Heather Fromme, and Signa Mikksell will be doing personal training in the gym. As for her new adventure, Stiles said she had a small tinge of butterflies in her stomach minutes before the grand opening (which included a ribbon-cutting photo picturing, among other, the Stiles' two children, five-year-old Taije and one-and-a-half-year-old Vienna) and she was somewhat baffled that so much had gotten done in such a short amount of time. "This really has been a complete transformation and I am so happy with how everything turned out," she said. Tia Stiles takes a break from grand opening activities at Studio Stiles & Total Fitness in Malta last Tuesday morning.