La’ James: Cosmetology college moving to Brady Street
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The former West Music store at 5205 N. Brady St. will soon be the new home of La’ James International College. Buy this Photo
La’ James International College will unveil a total makeover this summer when it relocates its cosmetology college to Davenport’s Brady Street.
Work already has begun on renovating the former West Music store at 5205 N. Brady St. La’ James, now located at 3802 E. 53rd St., Davenport, plans to move into its new location by the end of July.
Now located adjacent to the Harvest Bible Chapel, the college knew the growing church would eventually expand into the entire building, company owner Cynthia Becher said Wednesday. La’ James considered sites across the Iowa Quad-Cities before finding the new location — originally built back in 1989 as the Bob Lindsay Acura car dealership. La’James had been at its present location about five years.
Becher said they are moving from “the crossroads of 53rd Street and Interstate 74 to the crossroads of Brady and 53rd streets.” This marks its fourth move in Davenport but the first time it has owned its building in Davenport, she said.
The Davenport college is part of a system of seven La’ James International Colleges, spread across three states, with all but two locations in Iowa. It also has sites in East Moline and in Nebraska, outside Omaha. The college system, which boasts a total of 750-800 students, is headquartered in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Becher, who today is joined in the company by her son Travis, who does the college’s recruiting, was the youngest owner of a cosmetology school when she started La’James with a
partner in the 1970s in Mason City, Iowa. She became sole owner in the early 1990s, renaming the college La’ James International College. It is not affiliated with the La’ James College in Mason City.
She said La’ James added International to its name a decade ago to reflect its international curriculum. La’ James students have traveled abroad on Global Learning trips, having studied in Paris, London, Sydney and Prague. The college is working on creating a program in which students could study abroad for six months at a time.
The new Davenport building comes as La’ James is completing its first year of offering an associate’s degree in Health and Beauty Management, said Karol Thousand, the company’s chief operating officer. The new program, offered in partnership with Iowa Central Community College, also is being offered to La’ James alums.
The college recently hired a new administrator, Julie Lyon-Wilken, at its Davenport campus.
La’ James will continue to teach courses in cosmetology, esthetics, nail technology and massage therapy. The facility also will continue to offer customers the Tuscany Day Spa — a feature first launched in Davenport, as well as the Shades of Expression retail store.
“So many people don’t understand that we teach all the services of a day spa,” said Lyon-Wilken.
The company has invested heavily in technology, including a new $1 million call center in Fort Dodge. Employees there handle all the inbound and outbound calls for all the campuses.
La’ James employs a total of 150 staff across all its operations.
Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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