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  • Tonesha Horne, left, and Guatana Leake are two consultants for Amari’s Beauty & Fashion Supply Store. The store is named for Antonio Horne’s daughter, Amari, shown in front. Justin Jones

    Amari's Beauty & Fashion Supply Store

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January 9, 2013

Former NFL player opens beauty supply store

By Justin Jones, Staff Writer SNAP

Wednesday, January 9, 2013 — Inside Amari’s Beauty & Fashion Supply Store, there’s a lot of hair. There’s hair, both blonde and brunette, straight and curly. The point is, the store which opened Dec. 20 along U.S. 52 in Albemarle is all about hair.

Antonio Horne is the store’s owner. Horne, who is from Richmond County and played football for Clemson University and professionally for the St. Louis Rams, said he opened the store to supply Albemarle with a shop that carried a variety of hair and beauty products, including wigs, weaves, shampoos, brushes and combs in addition to purses and earrings.

Horne said one of his earliest memories played a role in opening the shop.

“Growing up, my grandmother had wigs, so we used to go to the wig shops with her,” he said.

“I just consider it an avenue to go down to create jobs for other people in the hair business.”

The store has a family atmosphere, with consultants ready to help customers with finding out which items would best suit their needs, something that Horne said happens daily.

“Some of them know what they’re looking for, but if I know what’s better for them, then we’ll try to let them know what’s the best thing to buy,” said Guatana Leake, one of the store’s consultants.  

“We make sure that we fit their needs,” Horne added.

As the store is serving those walk-in customers, Horne also has other dreams in mind for the store.

“My big vision is to be a distributor — to bring a big hair distributor for hair and weave to Albemarle for salons,” he said.

To reach those goals, Amari’s will utilize the web and other resources to spread its name.

“We plan on using the Internet, Facebook and different websites. Albemarle is just a place and location,” he said.

“The location is in Albemarle, but my vision is worldwide.”

And in that vision, Horne hopes to make Amari’s a unique store from other hair and beauty based stores in what it can bring to customers and set itself apart from others in Stanly.

“I don’t call it competition,” he said of other stores.

“I just see it as going toward my hair store, and I do want to separate myself from them as a straight human hair shop.”

Amari’s, which got its name from Horne’s youngest daughter, is at 1616 U.S. 52 North. Call (704) 982-4935.

 

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