"Open Now!" declares the banner over the plywood where the windows used to be at the Albany Perfect Look salon.

The staff at the Perfect Look are still healing from the freak car accident that killed an Albany woman last month, but the salon is open again for business.

Customers Saturday started arriving an hour before opening time, so they were invited in for coffee and doughnuts while the staff finished its final preparations, said district manager Joanie Chambers.

The beauty shop, located in the Fred Meyer shopping center on Santiam Highway, is getting a gradual facelift.

"We're coming along," said manager Michelle Ellis. Along with the windows, the salon has ordered new stylist stations and some new furniture.

It will not be replacing the two sinks that were crushed during the crash.

"We're never going to put shampoo bowls back there again," she said, saying instead the space may be covered with a retail display. "It would be very difficult for anyone to go back there again."

Ellis had been shampooing customer Charlene O'Connell on Oct. 30 when a car crashed through the front windows, continued to the back of the shop and hit O'Connell. She died from her injuries later that night at the Corvallis hospital.

"She was such a contribution to your community," Chambers said, adding she did not know O'Connell personally but attended her funeral service. "What a wonderful woman and a beautiful family."

Aside from the board covering what used to be three front windows of the salon, one has to look closely to see evidence of last month's tragedy.

Ellis said the linoleum used on the store's floor is no longer made, but some leftover linoleum in the same design was located at a warehouse and used to patch the areas with the most damage.

The wall where the car hit has be Sheetrocked.

"This community is incredible," Ellis said of the response after the crash. "It really, really is. We are very blessed, so the pieces get put back together."

"The girls have been working very hard," Ellis said of the staff. "Coming in almost every day since the incident, cleaning and organizing."

The salon was bustling with clients Saturday, including Louise Murray, who came in from Jefferson last week to find the shop closed.

"I'm glad it's open because I am unable to do my own hair and I depend on them for everything," she said. Murray, in an animal print headscarf, said she comes in about once a week to get her hair set.

"They're friendly, and they do good work," she said. "Been coming here a long time."