Fantastic Sams looking to extend its reach

With a six-store expansion on the horizon, a national retailer is aiming to create a hairy situation in Tarrant County.

After completing a feasibility study with Fort Worth’s Buxton customer analytics and retail site selection company, Mass.-based Fantastic Sams hair salon retailer is looking to open six new franchise locations in Tarrant County in the next five years. The chain, which currently operates 12 locations in the area, is a ‘no appointment necessary’ franchise of full-service hair salons.

“Tarrant County is a strategic market for us as we continue to grow our brand and meet our national development goals,” said Jeff Sturgis, vice president of franchise sales and development for Fantastic Sams. “The demographics, consumer lifestyle and strong business climate in Tarrant County meet the Fantastic Sams expansion model criteria and position the area for tremendous growth and success.”

Sturgis said his company commissioned Buxton for its site selection modeling capabilities in early 2008. By the end of 2008, Buxton had identified six specific areas of Tarrant County that would serve as ideal locations for Fantastic Sams stores: Southlake, Euless, Hurst, east Arlington, west Arlington and southwest Fort Worth. Though Buxton provided specific shopping centers for the six Fantastic Sams locations, Sturgis did not want to identify them for competitive reasons.

“In the current economic environment, an abundance of real estate is not a problem,” Sturgis said. “If anything, site selection is even more important now because there are so many sites available. Used to, there was limited real estate availability so you had to take whatever site was available if you wanted to get into the market. Now, we’re picking sites that are good for us.”

Buxton COO Charles Wetzel said Fantastic Sams will expand into “identified pockets of their core customers.”

“The majority of their locations are franchise locations, so by utilizing customer analytics they are making an expansion plan that works well for both corporate and franchisees,” Wetzel said.

The Tarrant County expansion announcement is part of an aggressive national growth strategy Fantastic Sams gelled together to accelerate the companyÂ’s franchising program and nearly double the number of salons nationwide in the next five years to seven years. The first Fantastic Sams salon opened 1974 and the brand began franchising in 1976.

Currently, Fantastic Sams boasts nearly 1,300 salons operating in the United States and is targeting growing metropolitan areas where Fantastic Sams already has built a significant brand presence.

With 21 locations throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth region, Sturgis said North Texas is an obvious area of growth for the company.

“Of course you want to grow where you have a better opportunity for success and we have a good footprint in the D-FW area so it makes sense to fill out in the area for synergy purposes,” Sturgis said. “The more stores there are, the more awareness of the brand that exists.”

With the recession in its 18th month and unemployment now topping 9 percent, Sturgis said Fantastic Sams has continued to see growth thanks to its “recession-resistant” business model.

“In money-crunching times, consumers are looking to save where they can and our model helps us to help them,” he said. “We stand to gain customers who are leaving the more expensive salons looking for a lower price point.”

To date, Sturgis said a few existing franchise owners are interested in plucking up the new Tarrant franchise opportunities, but if any stores are not swept up, new franchisees will be welcome. The average initial investment to open a Fantastic Sams salon ranges from $100,000 to $225,000 and Sturgis said once a franchisee has signed a contract with the company, it can take between six months and nine months to open the new store.

“A typical franchise owner has a business background, but we’re not looking for someone who has a background in salons,” he said.

Besides Tarrant County, Sturgis said Fantastic Sams also has commissioned Buxton to complete a site selection study for the Houston area so after expansion plans are completed in Dallas-Fort Worth, the salon retailer can lather, rinse and repeat in other Metropolitan areas.