Sloatburg’s businesses work hard to find the right recipe to catch residents’ interest — all while potential customers zoom by in cars during the day.

Susan McDonagh, owner of Rococo’s Salon & Boutique, is throwing open the doors to her store this evening and inviting customers and Sloatsburg residents in. This is a chance for the local community to visit a longtime central village business and see how it has remade itself to meet the needs of its customers. The Grand Re-Opening Party takes place Wednesday evening from 6pm – 9pm at Rococo’s Salon & Boutique.

“We want to offer Sloatsburg not only the salon, we want to give people a place to shop,” said Michele Padovani who runs the salon’s new boutique store and does all the buying. The redesigned store is a cozy space full of jewelry and interesting accessories. “A lot of residents don’t know we’re even here,” Padovani said. “We want everyone to come in and see our renovation.”

McDonagh is trying to position her salon to meet the various needs of Sloatsburg and to keep customers in the village. “We have more people working for us, more services,” she said, referring to the salon’s expanded full-service offering of hair, facials, spray tan, and airbrush make-up. “We’re trying to get more customers to come in.”

McDonagh moved into her current store in 2008, and has been renovating and fine-tuning the salon since. The interior is inviting and arty, with high-ceilinged rooms bathed in sunlight and hanging crystal light fixtures that McDonagh individually took apart and refurbished. All of her services have their own dedicated rooms — hair washing and hair coloring, facials, tanning, makeup.

Wednesday’s party marks Rococo’s reintroduction to the local market. The doors open at 6pm, so if you’ve never visited, here’s the chance to drop by under low-stress conditions and get to know a local business and the people behind it.

Go local for a change — you just might like it.