Salon Ciba is joining the list of longtime businesses moving on from Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E, but it has nothing to do with cash flow or rents said former owner Cindy Jarvis.

“That place was a cash cow,” she said.

Ciba joins a growing list of longtime 15th Ave E businesses to close or make big changes in the past few years, including On 15th Video, the Bagel Deli, North Hill Bakery and Chutneys, along with the Canterbury, which changed hands. Along with the overhauled Canterbury, the turnover has been matched and then some by new businesses and upgrades including a revamped Coastal Kitchen and new ventures like Nuflours, Rione XIII, The Wandering Goose, The Shop Agora, and Ada’s Technical Books & Cafe.

There had not been any proposed rent hike, beyond the typical annual increases for the Ciba space, said Stepanie Dozal of Metro Property Services, the company representing the landlord.

It’s too early to know what will become of the space; Dozal said she’d only found out in mid-September that Salon Ciba would be moving out. The business has the building until October 1st, so she delayed putting up for lease signs in the window for a while.

“We would love to have another salon,” Dozal said.

Jarvis opened Salon Ciba in 1988, and the location has been home to one hair salon or another since the 1930s according to her research. She sold the business, along with its Belltown branch, last October. The new owners changed the name to House of Style, and closed the branch on Capitol Hill to consolidate.

Most of the stylists working at the salon, Jarvis said, left to work at other salons in the area — a sign on the door gives new locations and contact information for the stylists.

“We all had to scatter to the winds,” said Tava LaBorn, one of the stylists.

While a few of the stylists ended up in Eastlake, LaBorn, made the move to Red Chair Salon just down the street. She said she’d understood the new owners wanted to change the atmosphere of the business before deciding to shutter, making it trendier, but she said that atmosphere wouldn’t fly on 15th Ave.

“Salon Ciba on 15th was always a neighborhood salon,” LaBorn said.

Jarvis was grateful to the customers and community which have supported the salon over nearly three decades. She was touched and pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of support from the community when the signs went up announcing the closure.

“I was really shocked about the community’s reaction,” she said. “I just feel blessed to have been doing this for that long.”

Julie King, a longtime client of Jarvis, concurred. She said she will miss the location, and will likely follow her stylist.

“The closing seemed like a surprise to many, including those who worked there for so long — it definitely makes you as a client have more attachment to the stylist rather than the owners,” she wrote in an email.

People were mostly confused by the closing of a successful location, said Jarvis, and many told her they would have been more understanding if there had been financial issues.

Jarvis thinks the shakeup could mean a chance for some other local salons to grow.

LaBorn was sure Red Chair and nearby Integra Salon will pick up some of the business. And of course, neighborhood stalwart Tim’s Barber Shop, open since 1966, remains on the street.

She said that many customers will follow their stylist to a new part of town. But just as many, she said will want to stay in the area.

“The community is really loyal to 15th,” Jarvis said.