Xin Yi Zhang made her first trip to this area three years ago, after she read about a nail salon leasehold that was for sale in the Happy Days Plaza at 4460 State Route 30. A geography teacher in her native China, the town of Amsterdam mailing address made Zhang think of the Netherlands instead of upstate New York.
She got in her car and drove from Brooklyn to Amsterdam. Zhang remembers her reaction after getting off the Thruway, climbing the hill out of the city, passing through the commercial strip in the town, crossing into Fulton County and then arriving at the little plaza.
“I said, ‘Oh my God! Why is it so far away?’” she recalled. “It’s in the country.”
The subject of her investigative trip, ANC Nails & Spa, was near the southern end of the plaza, surrounded by a tax preparer and a tattoo parlor. Zhang went inside and spoke to the owners — a husband and wife from Vietnam. A deal was struck to sell the salon’s assets and goodwill to the visitor from New York City.
Zhang, 48, had come to the United States in 1998. Her teaching credentials had no utility in her new country, she said, so she decided to learn a trade. She studied the work of beautifying nails on the hands and feet and became licensed to practice in the state of New York.
“Having your nails done is not popular in China,” Zhang explained. She said many Americans find it difficult to pronounce her first name, Xin Yi (“shinn-yee”), so most of her customers call her “Nikkie.”
“I think she’s the best,” said Debbie Delcostello, of Amsterdam, as she sat during her monthly salon visit for a manicure and to have her nails dipped. It was early in the afternoon on the last Saturday in November. Delcostello said she heard about Zhang after she admired a woman’s nails in a local jewelry store and asked her where she had them done.
“It’s all word-of-mouth,” Delcostello said. “When you find a good nail person, you stay with them.”
The salon is open seven days a week.
There are five workstations for fingernails and five chairs in which customers sit while receiving a pedicure. Zhang has always operated the salon by herself. When busy, she will jump from the stations to the chairs and back so multiple customers can be served simultaneously.
Three women entered ANC Nails & Spa while Zhang continued to work on Delcostello’s nails. It appeared to be a middle-aged mother out with her mother and her daughter. The woman asked if they could get manicures — one gel and two regular-type finishes. She then asked if there were other technicians available.
After Zhang informed the party that she was the only staffer but that she worked fast, the middle-aged woman said they had not yet celebrated their Thanksgiving and needed to get back home to assist in meal preparation. She said they could return at some future date.
“Before you come, call me. It’s better,” Zhang said softly as the three departed. “Thank you so much. Thank you.”
She charges $15 for a manicure. For $35, a customer gets a full set of acrylic nails or nails finished using the ANC process. ANC — named not for this salon but for the Amazing Nail Concepts company — involves dipping the nails in colored powders.
Customers, according to the owner, are predominantly locals but some come from as far away as Albany. During the summers, she gets nail work from second homeowners and other seasonal visitors to the area.
Business during the warm-weather months of 2023 was solid, Zhang said, but lately she had grown concerned about the slackened demand for manicures and pedicures.
“I don’t know. Maybe people have no money?” she asked. “It’s very slow now.”
Zhang left China for the U.S. in 1998. She moved from Fuzhon, a city in southern China that now has a population of 8.2 million, to the largest city in her new homeland.
Yes, she was surprised by the ruralness of ANC Nails & Spa when she first came to look at the business but Zhang said she had grown to appreciate not being surrounded by huge masses of humanity. She lives in an apartment that is close to the salon.
“It’s nice and quiet here,” she said. “New York City is too crowded for me.”
After Delcostello left, Zhang would patiently wait for the next customer. Perhaps the phone would ring or maybe someone would see the salon’s “OPEN” sign was aglow and then pull off the highway. The doors would stay open until 8 p.m. but the proprietor said she never watched the clock.
“It’s my business, so I push myself,” Zhang said. “This is for me. I have to keep the ball going up.”