Ms Hancock was forced to close her salon, The Beauty Room, for 12 weeks at the height of the pandemic.

She said it was a combination of timing, finding the right property and client support that pushed her to make the move.

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"After we reopened, we were just overwhelmed with clients returning and new clients," Ms Hancock said.

"I think a lot of that came down to what we did during shutdown. I put a big focus into our social media, creating tutorials and sharing information, as well as keeping in touch with our clients about what we were doing.

"At that point I just had one staff member and the influx was just insane - so I thought if not now, when, and I went for it."

Ms Hancock found her new location at Tamar Street, and worked on the renovation alongside her partner and family.

"It was pretty crazy - we renovated the space for two months," Ms Hancock said.

"I was working full time at the other location while we were doing all of the necessary work here. My partner is a tradie and sole trader and he helped out a lot."

Ms Hancock also changed her business name to fit the new facility, rebranding to The House of Beauty. She said Launceston had embraced the change.

"It's a sign of confidence, people love new things, they love exciting and different things, and want to support new businesses and those that have expanded," she said.

"I guess it's proof that you can do anything you set your mind too. I've added a new staff member, we've expanded our offering and people have been really receptive to that."

It is a similar story for Ashlee Morgan, who recently relocated from Queensland to Launceston, and opened a shopfront for her business, That Bath Bomb Shop, in the Quadrant Mall.

Ms Morgan was back in Launceston for her wedding in March, which helped culminate in the decision.

"We were here the week before COVID shut everything down," Ms Morgan said.

"We were here with family, and we thought why not, we were solely online so we could run our business from here.

"Around 70 per cent of our orders went to Tasmanians and always had, we'd been considering a shopfront for some time so thought we had nothing to lose."

Ms Morgan said the decision had paid off.

"We've been open for a little over a week, and we've been busy the whole time," Ms Morgan said.

"We've had people travelling from across the state to visit which has been amazing. We wouldn't be here without our loyal customers, and we're enjoying meeting our new ones."

The store sells a variety of handmade beauty products - including bath products, haircare and body moisturisers

"I think our point of difference is that we fill a hole in the market here in Launceston, it's a market nobody has touched yet," Ms Morgan said.

"We also make sure we have something for every price point - I'm a big believer that not everybody can afford everything.

"Some products are four dollars, others are more - just because you can't afford the big things doesn't mean you don't deserve self care.

"We just love seeing smiles on faces - that's our ultimate goal."

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