Evolving, not reinventing.

More than 20 years after our story began in beauty, it was time for the beauty side of the business to have an identity that reflected what it had become, and where it was going next.

Think of it a little like getting married (or getting divorced, depending on what chapter of life you’re in). You’re still you. Your history, your experiences and everything that made you who you are comes with you. But life changes. You grow. And sometimes your name changes.
But you’re still you.

FATE is the grown-up version of PH8. It carries more than two decades of experience, relationships, lessons, creativity and a genuine love for the beauty industry, while giving us room for change, growth and what the next chapter will bring.

FATE isn’t simply the same salon, spa and boutique with a new name. The way people work and shop isn’t what it used to be. What clients want has changed, and professionals want more from the places they work. Our own needs and priorities have shifted too. PH8 was built for a different time: before COVID, before evacuations, and before so many of the experiences that reshaped the way we all live, work, shop and connect.
The world changed. And inevitably, so did we.

Some of this evolution was already happening. Some of it happened faster than we planned.
We may not have chosen the timing, but we chose what we did with it.

Sometimes a curveball turns out to be the push you needed. FATE gives us room for new concepts, new professionals, new partnerships, new services and new experiences, while staying rooted in the industry and community where our story began.
Some things will feel familiar.
Some things will feel completely new.
And that’s exactly the point.

CURATE is the part of our story that never quite fit inside a traditional beauty box, and that’s exactly why it exists. We needed a change. The beauty industry is one we love, but it can be hard: long hours, demanding schedules, and real wear and tear on your body and mind. As we grew, we needed more balance, and so did the people around us.

So we started to diversify, evolving with the times and with our team. That was always the intention: to build somewhere people could grow, with room for different roles, different talents and different ways to build a career.

Over nearly 20 years in business, we had built far more than experience in beauty. We had built relationships with people, brands, suppliers, businesses, trades and creatives, and learned where to look, who to call, how to make the right introduction and how to recognize an opportunity worth exploring. We look at what’s missing, listen to what people need and want, and bring the right pieces together to create something worth discovering.
CURATE isn’t defined by one industry or one type of service. It’s built around possibility.

From hard-to-find products and custom gifting to events, pop-ups, websites, business support and collaborations, the work can look very different from one day to the next. The common thread is curiosity, resourcefulness and a pretty incredible network, and that network gets put to work. This year alone, it had us helping construction and mechanical companies systemize and grow their businesses, building trade show booths, and coordinating birthday parties and themed events.
Not exactly your typical salon week.

That same network shapes our team, and it can help shape yours too. So far this year, we’ve helped recruit and hire more than a dozen talented professionals from all across Canada: hairstylists, lash techs, barbers and massage therapists, plus plumbers, electricians, welders and carpenters. A few of them even joined us here at FATE.
Our roots are in Yellowknife. Our network reaches across Canada.

Boiler acting up? Bikini wax overdue? Planning an event? Need a website? Looking for a brand nobody carries? Have an idea you’re not quite sure what to do with yet? Need us to staff a trade show, or host an event? You’d be surprised what we know, and who we know.
Good ideas can lead almost anywhere.

And the first one led us here. It started with CUR8.

After years of planning, a major expansion, and finally opening the doors to our new space in March 2020, everything changed almost overnight. We had built a space for people to come together at the exact moment the world told everyone to stay apart.
So we found another way.

CUR8 by PH8 was born, not to replace the experience we had created, but to find another way to make people feel good, stay connected, and experience a little bit of PH8 when they needed it most. We brought our retail experience online, found creative new ways to connect with our community, and discovered that what we had created could reach much farther than we expected. What began as a local pivot soon connected us with customers across Canada.
What started as a necessity became something much bigger.

As PH8 grew, so did the vision. We kept hearing people talk about travelling south for the products, services and experiences they couldn’t find at home, and that never sat right with us.
Why should you have to leave the North to get it?

So PH8 grew far beyond the traditional salon. More services, more treatments, and more of everything people had been leaving town to find. We built the largest selection of professional beauty products in the North, at times even supplying other local salons and spas. We hosted launches and events, and coordinated education for our industry. What started as a salon became PH8 Beauty Boutique: part salon, part spa, part shop, part lounge, part event space, with room for whatever came next.
Then we went all in.

We grew from 1,300 square feet to 5,500 and took on a renovation that challenged us every step of the way. Mostly by men. But who’s counting? It taught us more than any business plan ever could: project management, contracts, and how to truly pivot (not to mention just how powerful women can be when we need to be). Every curveball thrown at us came with a lesson, and every lesson helped us grow in ways we never imagined.
It wasn’t the safe choice. It was the dream.

Then we did something that was unheard of in the beauty industry in Canada: we brought in rotational locum staff. Recruiting skilled people to the North has always been a challenge, and our population alone couldn’t keep up with the demand. Mining, trades and other large industries had solved that with rotational staff, so we borrowed the idea. We brought in experienced stylists and estheticians from all over Canada on rotation, and acquired staff housing to make it work, giving Yellowknife unmatched services and availability. You know you’re doing something right when other business owners from across the country want to come work with you. We also brought educators up to certify Northerners, because the North didn’t have the schools or facilities to train them. And we became the first salon and spa north of 60 with a liquor licence.
Everyone said we couldn’t. We defied the odds, and we didn’t stop until we found a way.

We knew that location as a salon long before we ever owned it, first as clients getting our hair cut there, and later working there in high school, back when it was called the Centrals. Even then, hair was something we took seriously, competing in hairstyling through Skills Canada and representing the Northwest Territories at Nationals multiple times.

Then, at the ripe old ages of 18 and 19, we came back and bought into the very salon where it all began.
It felt like fate. So that’s what we called it: PH8.

The salon had been through a number of owners over the years, and we knew we wanted to do something different, something trendy, new, and unmistakably ours. We weren’t close friends, we didn’t have a polished business plan, and we definitely didn’t know exactly what we were doing. What we did have was a shared drive to be entrepreneurs, big ideas, and enough confidence to believe we could figure out the rest. So we hit the ground running: painting, renovating, working behind the chair and learning the business as we went.
Call it brave. Call it ambitious. Call it a little bit crazy.

We learned a lot of lessons along the way. Funny how things evolve.
PH8 was always FATE. It just took us 20 years to spell it out.