Mobile Family Rebuilds Hair Salon Weeks After Suspicious Fire Destroyed New Shop
Three weeks after opening, LaRue Salon in Mobile was destroyed by a suspicious fire — now the family is back to cutting hair from a pop-up.
Kellie Sullivan and her family had been open less than a month when a suspicious fire reduced their dream to ash. Today, thanks to an outpouring of community support, the family is cutting hair again — just a mile and a half from where the fire happened.
The Sullivans opened LaRue Salon at 3207 International Drive, Suite A, in October 2021 after months of preparation. “We are all working together,” Sullivan said. “We opened the salon together as a family.”
That dream was interrupted on Nov. 7, when the battery on the shop’s Ring camera went flat. Sullivan’s daughter, Kaitlyn, drove over to check on the building that Sunday morning and called 911.
“On the 7th, we realized we had been robbed and the place had been set on fire,” Sullivan said. “We had only been there three weeks, excited for a new salon… Kind of devastating at a time like this, during the holidays.” The brand-new space was left covered in ash. “We just couldn’t believe it. We had no idea who or why. Just shocked,” she said.
Rather than close, LaRue Salon relocated to a pop-up space inside Charles Academy, a short drive from the burned-out storefront. Sullivan credits friends, clients, family and strangers for keeping the business alive while the family decides whether to return to International Drive or find a new permanent home.
“Friends and community and clients and family, everyone is just reaching out. That means a lot,” Sullivan said.
Mobile police and Mobile Fire-Rescue continued investigating the fire as suspicious; no cause had been announced publicly at the time of the family’s reopening.
How Fire Investigations Work
In a fire investigation, investigators work to determine where a fire started and what caused it, examining burn patterns, debris and other physical evidence. When a fire is considered suspicious, fire investigators and police work the case together, since an intentionally set fire can bring arson charges under Alabama law.
