Valet Parking Is Salon’s New Highlight
Valet parking at local restaurants isn’t a new concept, but one of the latest businesses to add the service for its guests may come as a surprise to some.
The salon Warren Tricomi, on Park Place in East Hampton Village, is now offering free valet parking for its customers on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during July and August.
According to Edward Tricomi, one of the salon’s owners, an agreement was reached with the village allowing valet parking service to take place on public property. Summer-ready, the local concierge company hired by the salon to do the actual parking, will be required to furnish an insurance certificate releasing the village of any liabilities. Cars are parked in the nearby long-term parking lot on Lumber Lane rather than the two-hour Reutershan lot on Park Place.
Becky Molinaro, East Hampton’s village administrator, said the village was agreeable to the service because it would relieve some of the traffic in the area.
“We would be supportive of any effort that’s going to make sure that our roadways and parking lots are safer for motorists and pedestrians,” Ms. Molinaro said. “On Park Place, especially in that lot, it can get pretty hectic.”
The arrangement is similar to the agreement the village worked out with the 1770 House restaurant farther west on Main Street, Ms. Molinaro said.
Mr. Tricomi said the salon decided to offer valet parking to be sure its clients got the best possible customer service. The salon sees between 40 and 60 people per day, and they often spend more than two hours there on Fridays and Saturdays in the summer, he said.
“You have such congestion in the Hamptons these days. Just trying to get a parking space, even in a parking area like that, is a challenge,” he said. “Clients are always worried. We took the stress out of it by opening valet parking. There’s no time limit on it. The clients can relax and enjoy their day at the salon.”
Mr. Tricomi said some of his 14 other locations already offer valet parking.
Some neighboring business owners on Monday said the valet parking decision made sense, and that they hope it helps the salon be successful.
“It’s going to be a good thing,” Khanh Ngo, owner of Khanh Sports and EH Eyewear, said on Monday. He has seen the salon’s customers frustrated by the current parking conditions. “They’re running around, they’ve still got tinfoil in their hair, their two hours are up, and they’re frazzled trying to find a parking spot,” Mr. Ngo said.