Nguyen, 32, is dreaming the American dream one set of hands at a time. She is among the Vietnamese immigrants who have flocked to the nail-salon industry and are working in the shops cropping up overnight at suburban strip malls and dotting the Philadelphia region.

Nail salons are among the latest ethnic niche businesses. They began in California in the 1990s, and moved east as the Vietnamese community exploded in some areas.

This is an industry operated top to bottom largely by Vietnamese. Even supplies such as nail polish, buffing pads and shop furnishings are from Vietnamese businesses.

Nearly 40 percent of Vietnamese businesses in the nation in the mid-1990s were in personal services - largely nail salons, beauty shops and dry cleaners - compared with a rate of just over 10 percent among all Asian-owned businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's economic census of 1997, the latest data available.

From 1990 to 2000, the Vietnamese population more than doubled in New Jersey and rose 89 percent in Pennsylvania. In Camden County, which is second only to Philadelphia in the area in Vietnamese population, it more than tripled.

On a recent Saturday, a half-dozen Vietnamese women were busy working inside Princess Nails at the Meetinghouse Square Shopping Center in Marlton, Burlington County. They rarely looked up from their work. Each wore a mask, protecting them from dust from sanded nails and the strong chemical fumes from cleaner and polish.

As the women worked, owner Bill Tran, 45, busily guided customers to the women.

Tran resettled in South Jersey from Vietnam 22 years ago. He owns another salon, in Clementon, Camden County, and a third in South Philadelphia.

"It's very cheap compared to running a Wawa, 7-Eleven or a bank," Tran said of why many Vietnamese own nail salons. "Ten years ago, it was too difficult to get in here to open a shop. We learned the trick to get in. The Vietnamese community helps each other out."

The Vietnamese use a credit and savings association known as a hui, which is Cantonese for lots, or taking shares. The association offers financial aid to aspiring business owners.

Other groups, including Koreans, Mexicans and Ethiopians, have similar associations.

The New Jersey Board of Cosmetology, which regulates the industry, lists 1,104 licensed nail salons. Since 1997, more than 200 licenses have been granted each year. Licensees are not tracked by ethnicity.

With the increase in nail salons, the board has become more vigilant in tracking consumer complaints. Last year, there were 278 complaints - including 71 for unsanitary conditions - involving barber, nail and cosmetology businesses, up from 257 total complaints in 1998, of which 41 were for unsanitary conditions.

Michael Ricciardone, president of the New Jersey Cosmetology Association, said most of the new salons were owned by Asians, especially Vietnamese.

"Just from seeing and going to trade shows, most of the exhibits are of Asian origin," he said. "They're good, and they're fast."

But not all have been happy to see the new competition.

Some American owners criticize others' salons for paying low wages and taking mostly walk-in customers. That allows them to cut costs and prices.

"I know it's hurt my business," said Jean Verna, 56, owner of Hair Expressions in Woodbury Heights, which offers hair, nail and tanning services. "I just can't compete with the prices."

Verna said at least three Vietnamese nail salons had sprung up near her.

Ivan Light, a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and coauthor of Ethnic Economies, said immigrants follow one another into occupations where they can share information, skills, loans and support. "This leads to immigrant entrepreneurial niches," he said.

Korean grocery or convenience stores, Armenian rug shops, Greek pizza parlors, Chinese restaurants, Indian gas stations, and, more recently, Cambodian doughnut shops have been other examples of immigrant entrepreneurial niches in the U.S. economy.

In his 1998 book, The Contemporary Asian American Experience, Timothy P. Fong estimates that Vietnamese own and operate 80 percent of the nail salons in Southern California and 30 percent of them nationwide.

Most who work at the salons have arrived over the last 10 years. Nguyen, for example, immigrated seven years ago from Vietnam. Most speak little English, and they have minimal education and other job skills.

"I make people pretty," Nguyen said in a soft voice as she waxed 16-year-old Erica Maurer's eyebrows. Besides the $7 wax, Maurer invested $27 in a set of acrylic nails for her high school prom that week.

"They did a good job," she said.

Nguyen works 40 to 50 hours a week at Best Nails & Tanning in Woodbury Heights, off Route 45 in Gloucester County - a job that she calls part time and that pays $7 an hour, plus tips. She takes English and computer classes at Camden County College.

Nguyen's sisters, Ty, 28, and Li, 28, also work in the salon. She recommended her friends - now colleagues - Tone Kwang, 22, and Andy Nguyen, 20, to the Vietnamese owner.

"People get jobs through referrals and niches," said Steven J. Gold, coauthor of Ethnic Economies.

Jennifer Nguyen (no relation to Kim) was among the wave of Vietnamese who came to the United States one day before the fall of Saigon in 1975.

She was 16 when she arrived in Sacramento, Calif. Her sister, Judy, found work in a nail salon, and encouraged her to give it a try. And she was hooked.

Nguyen, now 43, moved to Willow Grove in 1985 with her husband, an engineer, and started as a nail technician. A year later, she opened Just Nails Salon off Route 611 in Glenside, Montgomery County, and hired her brother, sister and a friend.

A typical week for Nguyen is Monday through Saturday, 13 hours a day. Her specialty is silk wrapping, using the fabric nail rather than an acrylic.

Working hard is essential, she said. "We put in long hours because people come after work."

^{This article is reproduced by courtesy of Suzette Parmley / Philadelphia Inquirer}
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