Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/74664
back to a time of glamming up," said Lotus Abrams, managing editor of the American Salon trade magazine. The trend of long hair and extensions is driv- ing creation of blow-dry-only salons, she says. "It's another revenue generator, and most people don't know how to style long hair by themselves." Drybar sales hit $8 million last year, but so far this year those are on track to reach about $20 million, the com- pany says. Such success has helped the company land a $16 million infusion last February from equity firm Casta- nea Partners, of Newton, Mass., which holds a minority stake. "We saw how much the customer was in love with Drybar, and their reaction to the store was amazing not just in traffic but also in emotional response," said Steve Berg, a Castanea partner. "They are very so- cial-media-focused, and people were rav- ing about their experience and counting down the days to go back." Among those paying attention is for- mer Gap CEO Paul Pressler, who has invested in Drybar. The investments have helped the chain grow faster, says Webb, and so has hiring Karen Kelley, formerly of the Pinkberry frozen-yogurt chain and now president and COO of Drybar. Until now, blow-dry-only concepts were chiefly mom-and-pop operations. But now Drybar is feeling some heat from competitors Blo and BlowNY. Vancouver, B.C.–based Blo has grown to 19 locations since its birth in 2007, including six in the U.S. Plans are for six more, in California, Con- necticut, Florida and Texas. Most of these are franchised. "Blo has been su- per successful in Canada," said Hilary Chan-Kent, a spokeswoman. "We're tickled pink to bring catwalk-quality hair to the U.S.A. We complement the salon model by allowing women to maintain salon-quality locks in between trips to the hairdresser." BlowNY, which opened in 2005 in New York City's meatpacking dis- trict, is expanding too, and has set up a co-branding arrangement with Nor- dstrom. So far, two of these salons are in the planning for two California sites. "Nordstrom's DNA is customer ser- vice," said BlowNY CEO David Maleh. "We were approached by several other stores to open salons, but we picked to co-brand with Nordstrom. We're not running to open salons all over the country, but we are looking at the fran- chise and flagship model. We're analyz- ing the right way to expand." Webb sees plenty of space for growth on this particular frontier. "There's room for everybody, and they under- stand the urge to open these," Webb said. "But sometimes our competitors underestimate things we take very seri- ously. There's a secret sauce and we are meticulous in a lot of things we do to keep us growing." SCT Your Florida Partner www.crec.com Carlos Guzman, Vice President 305.779.3173, cguzman@crec.com Kendall Mall & Weston Lakes Plaza Keep good company Publix, CVS, Staples, Starbucks, JCPenney Home, Anna's Linens, Party City, & others Kendall Mall, Miami, FL & Weston Lakes Plaza, Weston, FL www.crec.com 888.488.CREC AUGUST 2012 / SCT 29