PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

SPORT CLIPS: FOR MEN WHO HATE HAIRCUTS

By Jesse Serwer

Gordon Logan set out to create a new hair care concept in the early 1990s, and one fact had gripped him: There were no nationwide chains in the $40 billion-a-year business catering specifically to men and boys.

“I had my light-bulb moment sitting on the pier at Monterrey drinking bloody marys on a Sunday morning,” recalled Logan. He had been a franchisee of Command Performance Styling Salons and a member of that company’s board. “I was telling a friend of mine who is in the marketing business about the concepts we were looking at, and he mentioned that some salons were doing 50 percent or more of their business with men, but they weren’t really doing anything to attract them.”

Sports sprang immediately to mind as a good hook to interest men in an activity for which they normally tend to have little enthusiasm. So Logan simply combined the images and founded Sport Clips, of which he is CEO. The Georgetown, Texas-based concept is also a great way for men to reconnect with the old-time barbershops of their youth, which continue to disappear, Logan says. “Men were being forced to go to unisex salons, which do not provide a very guy-friendly environment, or to a family haircutter chain, which tend to be fairly generic,” he said. “We didn’t want to come out and blatantly say, ‘men only,’ but we felt that the sports theme would help us communicate that it’s a guy kind of place. We wanted to create something where, when guys come through the front door, they’re immediately going to say, ‘OK, this is my kind of place; this belongs to me.’ ”

Logan opened the first Sport Clips shop in Austin, Texas, in 1993 and went on to expand throughout Texas (it now has 125 units in that state alone) before entering the Denver market in 2001. In the six years since, the franchise has spread out into 32 states, with plans to top the 500-shop mark later this year.

Sport Clips shops, which typically measure between 1,200 and 1,400 square feet, are designed around a locker-room motif. Decorating the walls are professional and college team jerseys, pennants and other sports memorabilia, most of it available for purchase. Each cutting station has a TV tuned to ESPN or a sports broadcast of the customers’ choosing. The waiting areas are stocked with the latest issues of Sports Illustrated and Motor Trend. All the services use sports nomenclature: Hairstylists in track pants and sneakers “huddle” with customers at an entranceway that resembles a batting cage, before sending them off to the “main event.” Customers who opt for the “MVP Treatment” head to “the showers” for a shampoo and head-and-neck massage.

Mike White, an anchor-leasing representative for AIG Baker, which has installed Sport Clips units in its centers in Alabama, Nevada and Wisconsin, says the uniqueness of the concept makes it a good neighbor for any co-tenant, even other salons, such as Supercuts and Great Clips.

Locationwise, Sport Clips prefers supercenters with big-box retailers, but if the demographics and traffic patterns are sufficient, just about anything other than an enclosed mall will work. “What we’re looking for in terms of co-tenants is what I call guy-centric retailers,” said Gregory A. Fisher, managing partner of Wellington Franchise Systems, the area developer for Sport Clips in California’s Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and in southern Nevada. “It doesn’t do us a lot of good to be located with female apparel chains.”

Though almost all its shops are in upscale suburban areas, Sport Clips recently began opening units in urban downtown areas, starting with Dallas, Houston and Chicago.

This inherent adaptability has enabled the chain, which began franchising in 1995, to grow rapidly. With approximately 450 units currently operating, Sport Clips is opening shops at the rate of about three a week. Logan says the company expects to have about 500 shops by the end of the year and perhaps 1,000 over the next five years. (By comparison, Regis Salons operates some 2,000 units for its biggest concept, Supercuts, while Great Clips, the largest franchiser of salons, has about 2,500.)

Systemwide sales for Sport Clips, which grew from $11 million in 2001 to $90 million last year, are expected to reach $125 million this year. “We’re operating at a 40, 50 percent annual growth rate, and we’re maintaining that,” Logan said.

Sport Clips’ most recent push has been in California, where the company is close to achieving its goal of about 50 new shops by year-end. New England is next, says Logan. “That’s the last major bit of country we’re not in,” he said. “California is a major market, so we have to ensure that’s running smoothly before we move on to the Northeast. But I’m confident we’ll be in all 50 states in the next five to 10 years.”

Though the idea of a themed hair salon might seem quirky at first, the franchise’s success lies in its simplicity, says Fisher. “It is so easy to deliver our message right at our target audience,” he said, noting Sports Clips’ strategic partnerships with NASCAR and with a number of professional baseball, basketball and hockey teams. “We don’t have to spend a lot of time or money on alternative advertising vehicles. Guys like sports, guys need to get their hair cut — it’s pretty simple and straightforward for us.”