New London — Not long after he opened a downtown business, Ric Waterhouse panicked.

“I couldn’t help thinking, ‘Oh no, What did I do?’ ” Waterhouse said Friday, recalling the pangs of doubt that came with the keys to 136 Bank St., home of his Waterhouse Salon.

That was 25 years ago to the day.

“I have absolutely no regrets,” Waterhouse said. On a street and in a downtown that’s had its share of turnover, the business has long thrived right where it began.

Waterhouse, 52, chuckled at the suggestion that he just might be the dean of Bank Street merchants, or close to it.

“It’s changed a lot,” he said of the downtown. “Olympic Sporting Goods used to be across the street. … Now it’s me and Nancy Hennegan (a Waterhouse mentor and owner of a Meridian Street salon), the Garde, Caruso’s Music, Ernie’s and Thames River Greenery.”

Businesses that go back a lot further, with names like Mallove’s and Roberts and Klingerman, are long gone.

Last year, the local Economic Development Commission cited the Waterhouse and Hennegan salons for their longevity and contributions to the city.

“I couldn’t have done this anywhere but in New London,” Waterhouse said. “I didn’t have any money, any backing, any privilege. But the community had an interest in supporting small business. My clientele wanted me here. A lot of people wanted to see businesses downtown.”

Waterhouse, who has been cutting hair for 33 years, got his start working for Hennegan. She trained him, he said, “not just in hairdressing but in business and in life.”

When he opened his own salon, it was the only one on Bank, which made it “a no-brainer.”

“I sure didn’t know what I was doing,” he said.

Twenty-five years later, the spacious salon has more than a half-dozen chairs and some 500 customers hailing from Old Lyme to Mystic, most of them concentrated in the New London-Waterford area, according to Waterhouse. It books appointments six to eight months in advance.

Waterhouse bought the building, the 175-year-old Capt. Franklin Smith house, in 2008. His tenants include Studio 33, an art gallery and frame shop at 140 Bank, and two second-floor apartments that share a deck overlooking the city’s waterfront.

Now, Waterhouse’s salon is part of the city’s history as well as its fabric.

“It’s been a rock amidst all kinds of change,” Laura Light, a salon employee, said of the business.

One of two employees who’ve been with Waterhouse for more than 20 years, Light said such steadiness emanates from the owner.

“I’ve always been able to count on him as a boss and a friend,” she said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck

Business snapshot

What: Waterhouse Salon

Owner: Ric Waterhouse

Where: 136 Bank St., New London

Established: July 1990

Employees: 9

Contact: (860) 442-9543; waterhousesalon.com