Las Vegas Business Press :: News : Barbershop chain CEO likes the cut of Las Vegas

Barbershop chain CEO likes the cut of Las Vegas

BY VALERIE MILLER

Sport Clips is not your father's haircutting place but dad might still get his locks cut there.

The sports-themed hair chain has designated Las Vegas as a growth market, and geared its advertising toward local men and their sons. Founder and CEO Gordon Logan was in the valley recently to celebrate the company's 400th store opening and to promote his local expansion plans.

"We plan to open 12 or 15 more stores here," Logan said of the next few years. He noted no specific competitors. "We have a very special niche, focusing on men and boys."

MARLENE KARAS | BUSINESS PRESS
Bradley Smith gets his hair cut by Jennifer Harper at Sports Clips, a sports-themed barbershop for men and boys, located at 7225 S. Durango. It is designed to look like a locker room and has small TVs at each station with sports playing on every monitor.

Wide-screen TV sets blare sports as male patrons await their haircuts. The Sports Clips' selection of magazines is more along the Sports Illustrated line than that of Glamour. There are other perks for the guys.

"We've refined a concept using hot towels and naked shoulder massages. Nobody is doing what we do," Logan said, calling it the "MVP Treatment." It runs around $21.

The style could become very familiar to the Silver State. Nevada may see 30 new store openings in Clark, Nye and Lincoln counties. The rollout plan calls for opening at least five stores over the next five years and 10 per year thereafter.

They'll all emphasize what men want, according to territory owner Greg Fisher. Sports Clips targets households with annual incomes of $60,000 to $75,000.

Orange County-based Wellington Franchise Systems acquired development rights to the Sports Clips franchises in Southern Nevada in January. It will open some stores while franchising out others, according to Logan. Locations are typically leased in strip malls.

SO MANY CHOICES

Fisher has previously pointed to Supercuts and Great Clips as competitors but feels male-oriented Sports Clips would have an appeal all its own. "This is the modern-day barber shop," he offered. Supercuts has about 32 stores in the valley. Great Clips has around 24 local outlets.

Logan catalogs the reasons for growing the Sports Clips brand in Las Vegas. The influx of new families and retirees supplies an ample flow of male customers. The older ones remember the male-bonding experiences of their barber shop days.

"The target demographics are 18 to 49 (year-olds) but we have a lot of clients older than that -- over 50 to 60," the CEO said.

Logan opened his first Sports Clips in 1993 in Austin. He had other ventures going, but decided to focus on the hair-cutting business. Now that focus is on Southern Nevada. "Las Vegas is one of the fastest-growing areas in Clark County," he observed, "and this is one of the fastest-growing companies."

vmiller@lvbusinesspress.com | 871-6780 x331

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