Welcome to March! February was as brutal of a month weather-wise that could be, from rainy and cold CA to wintery NY. In Michigan we got to experience the polar vortex at –38F, freezing rain, snow, rain, blue skies, 50F, and everything in-between. Spring is less than 3 weeks away, hooray.
The salon suite phenomena is an express train on steroids. Sola suites has hundreds of locations and opening more. My Suites already has more than 100 locations and wants to open a couple hundred more. Plus there are plenty others like Phenix, and Premier not to mention individual salons that are all booth rental. Let’s suggest each suite has 25 tenants and with just 1000 suites across the USA, that would account for 25,000 hairdressers (small percentage are nail and spa). With the growth plans in place over the next few years, perhaps 70%-80% of hairdressers will be renting space and only exclusive and franchise salons will remain.
The big question to ask, “If the salon industry thrived for 100 years, what factors came into place to allow salon suites to prosper?” JB, why not chime in on this one!
Nails are alive and well and in fact, I see a bit of the 80’s resurfacing. Nail franchisors see huge opportunities and selling franchises as fast as possible. Franchise owners/nail techs love the business concept and know that women love getting mani’s & pedi’s but want a pleasant and clean environment to get their services done. This is very good news indeed for TNG and I love the fact nail techs make a great income doing what they do best. I think what is making this happen is that Vietnamese salons have peaked as women from Vietnam no longer want to come to the USA to do nails. Vietnam is thriving and growing 50% faster than China and manufacturing is soaring. Women have much more opportunity to establish careers than ever before and they are taking advantage of it. Next trend: Beauty schools catering to nails and establishing curriculum to meet the growing demand.
Speaking of nails, I have to mention EMMA Beauty. No brand is having as much fun as EMMA and everyone is loving its brand message targeted towards Millennial’s and healthy living.
So far so good: No government shutdown and no additional tariffs. In fact, looks like China and the USA are going to strike a trade deal and perhaps even rescind the current 10% surcharge. If so that would continue to do wonders for the stock market which is having its best two month performance since 1987. S&P 3150 by yearend is very likely.
Detroit is rocking and rolling with the opening of the Shinola hotel. You know Detroit is hot when they charge $37 for valet parking and $28 for a truffle pizza. Can you imagine those prices just a few years back? Although it does cost upwards of $70 to valet in Chicago, just saying.
The last issue of Nailpro magazine was less than 90 pages printed on super thin paper and cover stock. While nails are hot, trade magazines are not. And did you see the last issue of Beauty Store Business? Instead of being oversized, downsized to regular magazine size and thin as a mint. What is the future of rep shows? Two shows this year combined into one and dismal results. No doubt booth renters are buying most of their stuff on Amazon and is it any wonder Amazon will generate more than $20 billion in advertising revenue next year?
Lyft is beating Uber to the IPO market? Which one do you think will win the ultimate prize?
Happy Friday!
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