Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Mary Fabre Berndt may occasionally struggle to remember a customer’s name, but she never forgets a face.
That’s no surprise, since those faces are her profession. As the owner of Moorhead’s Merle Norman Cosmetics, she has spent her career helping thousands of women look their very best with skincare products, makeup and expert advice on how to look – and feel – more beautiful.
“There’s no better feeling than making a woman feel good about herself,” the beauty dynamo confides. “It’s empowering.”
Until three months ago, Mary’s home base was the Center Mall, where she had operated her Merle Norman studio for 36 years. That changed when Roers Development purchased the 50-year-old shopping center for downtown redevelopment. Forced to relocate, she spotted space in the building formerly occupied by Country Greenery just one block south of the mall – easy for her faithful customers to find, and with a bonus: far more visibility.
She shares the building at 15 Fifth St. S. with Urban Hair, a full-service salon. “They’re a perfect neighbor,” she points out. “We have many of the same clientele.
“I never would have thought this day would come. We would always have the malls, especially in our climate,” Mary reflects. She admits to missing the camaraderie she enjoyed at the Center Mall. “But this move has been very much for the better. Here, I have excellent exposure, with women coming in all the time with beauty on their minds.”
Mary’s studio, one of 1,100 Merle Norman retail locations nationwide, carries 1,700 products. While many think of the vast array of makeup first, she says the foundation of her business is cosmetic skin care: “Makeup can only look as good as your skin does.”
That’s how she was introduced to the company that’s defined her entire career. Growing up on a farm near Waubun, Minnesota, she and her sisters worked outdoors alongside their father, just like the sons her parents never had. “It was dirty work, so I was attracted to everything that was clean and pretty – nice clothes, makeup, hair,” she says. After dermatologist recommended Merle Norman’s skin care regime, she began to frequent the shop in Fargo.
The fascination never ended. After graduating from Waubun High School in 1983, she enrolled in nursing at the University of North Dakota. She also landed a part-time job with the local Merle Norman studio. “I always knew I wanted to help people,” she says, “but I soon realized nursing wasn’t for me. I loved cosmetics and dressing up every day.
Mary moved to Mesa, Arizona, and went to work at the number-one Merle Norman store in the nation. She learned the business through the corporation’s intensive training program, studying in Phoenix and Los Angeles. Then she brought her passion for beauty back home, buying the failing Merle Norman studio in the Center Mall. “My father was very successful at farming and running a trucking company. He always told me, ‘Don’t work for somebody else. Work for yourself,’” she explains.
“I needed to find something to turn it around,” she remembers. She had a brainstorm: “I offered free shipping on every order. Still do,” she says with a smile. “I was Amazon before there was Amazon.”
And she began building a loyal clientele that has only grown over the years. “I have some women who have been coming to me for all 36 years, and who have used Merle Norman products for 50 or 60 years,” she observes.
“My customers are the best. They’re smart. They’re savvy. They know what questions to ask … and I’d better know the answers.
“Their loyalty is amazing! And they are the best advertising I could possibly have: Their skin is just beautiful.”
While competition has increased over the years, both brick-and-mortar and online, Mary says her Merle Norman store has one big advantage: “They don’t have the personalized customer service that we have always offered.” She adds, “I still have young girls hire me to do their makeup for their weddings.”
The Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 to 4 p.m. Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. To order from Mary online, go to www.MerleNorman.com and search “56560.”