About Us
State Beauty Supply of St. Louis is in its third generation of ownership, serving professional salons and stylists.
Founded in 1967, State Beauty Supply has roots deeply planted in both family and the beauty industry. Sam and Mary Lou Goellner’s story began long before the business itself. After Sam returned home from serving in World War II, he was searching for direction, purpose, and a way to connect with people. He enrolled in cosmetology school and that is where he met Mary Lou.
What started as a shared passion for the beauty industry quickly turned into a lifelong partnership, a marriage, and the beginning of a family. Together, they opened and successfully operated several salons, building relationships and learning the industry from the inside out.
While working behind the chair and running their salons, they saw a need. They wanted a place where salon professionals could purchase products created specifically for professionals. That vision led them to purchase the Metropolitan St. Louis territory from the State Beauty Supply Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
At the time, the distributorship included approximately 20 stores throughout the Midwest. From there, the foundation of what is now The Goellner Group was built on family, service, and a true love for the professional beauty industry.
“Rooted in family. Built for salon professionals.”
With the primary focus to build and add more brands, the State Beauty Supply stores of that generation competed with many larger and more established distributorships in all areas. Since the competition was so established, State entered the market with the concept that they would have locally owned and operated stores that could personally service the salons and stylists of the areas better than the larger and more remotely located distributorships.
The State Service Center has evolved over the years. Once owned by a private investor, the Service Center has since been purchased by L’Oreal USA, Inc. L’Oreal currently services State Beauty Supply | RDA ProMart and SalonCentric Corporate stores. Recently, L’Oreal has created its SalonCentric Franchise division. This new venture has given current State Beauty Supply | RDA ProMart ownership the opportunity to mirror SalonCentric Commercial store design and utilize their abundant resources. These resources provide our customers with an elevated shopping experience through top-tier merchandising, as well as store layout and design. While the look and feel of our stores is changing, we still provide top brands in the industry, as well as the best customer service and experience in the professional beauty arena!
Anchored by L’Oreal’s Professional Product Division (PPD) with top brands like L’Oreal Professional, Redken, Matrix, Biolage, Pureology, Pulp Riot and Mizani, SalonCentric’s product portfolio also includes a host of the industry's most influential brands (referred to as Partner Brands) that are positioned to give our customers everything they need to ensure the best products and services in the salon industry. These manufacturers also embrace the concept that a quality product, service and education to their licensed professional customers must all go hand in hand. State Beauty Supply is no exception to this concept.
While our own distributorship has grown and expanded over the past 57 plus years, our mission has consistently been to serve our customers beyond their expectations. We continue to live by Sam’s belief that you make more deposits in life than you receive, and that mindset still guides how we show up for our salon professionals, our team, and our community every day.