Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020089
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Trim the price of a salon haircut, market to a wide audience and attach a clever name reminiscent of a line of off-price groceries. The result is Cost Cutters hair salons, which promise to heat up competition for heads in the Roanoke Valley within a year.
Two former California men have opened a Cost Cutters in Vinton and plan to put one in each of the three new Wal-Marts to open in Roanoke, Rocky Mount and Martinsville.
There will be 17 Cost Cutters in Virginia by the end of next year, according to Minneapolis-based The Barbers, Hairstyling for Men and Women Inc., which owns the 600-store chain.
While barbers offer quick, inexpensive cuts and full-service salons pamper those less concerned about price, Cost Cutters said it offers styled cuts at moderate prices to walk-in customers.
Selling haircuts and related services through chains took hold about 10 years ago, when most men had their hair cut at barber shops, women went to beauty shops and unisex salons still were catching on.
Mark Mitchell, vice president of the International Chain Salon Association in Seattle, said chain salons now provide about half of the nation's haircuts.
Although there are at least 50 chains of salons in the nation, Cost Cutters is only the third that will operate in the Roanoke Valley. The others are Hair Plus, a mid-priced chain, and Regis Hairstylists, an upscale chain.
The Vinton store's owners, Dan Flynn and Tom Giltz, moved to the Roanoke Valley from Northern California last year. Chiropractors for many years, they were looking to run a business with less hands-on involvement than required to manipulate spines.
Fred Huggins, president and chief executive of The Barbers, had expansion plans for his company.
``We have been looking at the middle-Atlantic area,'' he said. Roanoke ``looked like it had a lot of potential.'' The two men bought the rights to a wide territory that includes the Roanoke Valley and will run all Cost Cutters within it.
A basic cut at Cost Cutters costs $8.95 for a man or woman and $6.95 for children 12 years old or younger. Huggins said he believes many people in the Roanoke area have been paying several dollars more.
Operators of Cost Cutters accept less profit per cut, but strive to serve more customers per hour than a typical salon, Flynn said. ``We're going to deal more on volume,'' Flynn said. And, ``We do more marketing.''
Those who run pricier chain salons have accused discount chain salons of skimping on service. Rodney Marston, manager of Hair Plus in Roanoke, characterized a Cost Cutters cut as ``quick in and out.''
``I'm not concerned about Cost Cutters,'' Marston said. At Hair Plus, a basic cut and shampoo costs $12 for a woman, $10 for a man and $8 for a child 8 years old or younger.
Cost Cutters' Huggins defended the quality of his company's service. Once seated in the chair, a customer can expect the stylist to spend 20 to 25 minutes on his or her hair, he said.
Because Cost Cutters charges separately for services such as a shampoo ($2.50) and blow-dry styling ($3.50), customers don't pay for extra services they don't want, said Todd Szymanski, Cost Cutters' marketing manager.
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