Great Clips, the world's largest hair salon brand, celebrated its 30th birthday this weekend with the company's biggest convention ever, and the celebration continues with gift giving through the end of the year. More than 3,000 franchisees (salon owners), salon managers, corporate staff, educators, industry leaders and vendors participated in three days of networking, workshops and recognition at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
This is a major milestone for the Minnesota based company that opened its first shop on the University of Minnesota campus back in 1982 - the year of mullets, thick bangs and lots of hair spray. Great Clips Chairman, Ray Barton, was one of three local men whose dreams of affordable, quality and convenient cuts have grown the company into an international icon with some 3,200 salons, 1,100 franchise and 30,000 stylists.
CEO Rhoda Olsen led the celebration of the company's 8 year, 32 consecutive quarters of growth during the worst economy in recent history.
"This company was built by the hard work of corporate staff, franchisees, salon managers and stylists," says Olsen. "We stayed true to our core business of affordable and convenient cuts and we introduced new technology and innovation that keep us charging ahead of the competition."
Cutting Technology
- Great Clips is the first salon brand to introduce online check-in, a service allowing customers to mark their spot in line from a computer or Smart Phone before they get to the salon, making wait times even shorter. This week, the company recorded 1 million downloads of the online check-in app.
- Great Clips recently launched an enhanced corporate-wide computerized system called Clip Notes that allows stylists to record notes about a customer's haircut. When customers check into a Great Clips salon, stylists can call up notes on that haircut so customers get the exact haircut they got the last time.
Celebration
The three day celebrations from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 included:
Hair competitions and hair show - Great Clips' salon managers showcased their talents styling and cutting hair on mannequins and live models. Winners were featured during a hair show on Monday.
"Great is..." mural - Local artists worked together to create a 30-foot by 30-foot painting depicting all that is great! Attendees contributed to the mural by texting how they personally define "great." The artists translated those texts into a sea of beautiful colors and images.
Gift Giving Continues
It may be Great Clips' birthday, but the company is the one giving away the presents. Through the end of the year, the company is awarding a variety of fun, early-80s retro gifts to its online fans via Facebook, Twitter and EverythingGreat.com.
