For more than 50 years Lana Baclesse has been helping the ladies of Mexico look their best and she’s not stopping anytime soon.

Baclesse, the owner of Merle Norman on Mexico’s Square, never dreamed after her first day on the job in 1973 that 50 years later she would be celebrating. Baclesse said it was a rough first couple of weeks.

“It was rather confusing because I didn’t know much about the products and people would come in and ask me a question and I wouldn’t have any answers,” Baclesse said.

Baclesse said if she were starting today it would be even more confusing.

“When I first started here there was one toner,” Baclesse said. “Now I think we have six or more. There are a lot of different products we didn’t have back then and it takes a little time to learn all of them.”

Baclesse is also sharing a 50th anniversary with the store’s current location. Before the store was located around the corner across from the old Lawrence Drug Store.

“I think I worked one day over there,” Baclesse remembered. “We’ve been here ever since. We’ve gone through four remodels over the years and we’ve expanded.”

Baclesse was hired as a beauty consultant by the original owner Paula Fuqua who opened the store in 1970. A few years later the store was up for sale and she and another employee, Carol Blackburn, were presented opportunities but both didn’t think the time was right.

“We were both young and kind of scared of it,” Baclesse said.

Blackburn eventually took over ownership of the store from Beth Irvin who ended up purchasing it from Fuqua. However, plans would change and Baclesse would have another chance. One day Blackburn’s husband came into the shop and said they were moving to Arizona and asked her if she wanted to buy the shop.

“I called her and I said, ‘If I turn him down does that mean you’ll have to stay,’” Baclesse recalled. “No we’re moving and if someone is going to have my baby I want you to have it.”

Baclesse signed the papers to take over the store in 2000.

“I never dreamed I would have it,” Baclesse said. “I thought Carol would buy it and she would retire and I would be right behind her. It worked out.”

Baclesse isn’t the only one who is attached to the store. Her assistant, Missy Beasley, has been employed at the store for 24 years.

“She’s my right arm and sometimes my brain,” Baclesse said.

Baclesse said the biggest blessing of owning the store is the connections she has made with her customers. About 36 years ago the store started facial steam treatments and Baclesse has customers who have been coming in once a month for decades.

“I see some of these people more often than I do my own kids,” Baclesse said. “You connect, you know their kids, you know their grandkids. It’s just a real blessing to know that many people.”

Baclesse is not only blessed by knowing so many people but also finds joy in making people happy. She loves the reaction she gets after someone has come in for products or a facial treatment.

“Their faces just light up when I get done with them,” Baclesse said. “That makes me feel good because I’ve done my part. This is a feel-good business and it’s just easy to put a smile on their face.”

Baclesse has also gotten to watch families grow over the past half-century. She said many of the women who come into the store to see her have been doing so since they were teenagers.

“I’ve got several girls who came in and their mothers brought them in when they were teenagers and then they brought their daughters,” Baclesse said. “It’s really neat to watch the generations.”

So when will Baclesse call it quits? Not anytime soon. Baclesse said about three or four years ago she started thinking about her 50th anniversary but as it's getting closer there is no peeking ahead.

“Mexico has been very kind to me and I appreciate them so much,” Baclesse said. “I just enjoy people and I think I’ll know when it’s time.”