Are you thinking about an expansion plan? All salon owners know the crazy yet rewarding effort that comes with opening a salon. Building a salon business is challenging and expanding that business into a group of salons is a whole other level. If you’re a salon entrepreneur wanting to grow, we’ve got Janene Hawkins-Bush, who shares her alternative approach to running multiple salons. Janene owns four salons in the south of England, so it’s safe to say she knows what she’s talking about.
Choosing how you brand and operate each salon will impact its overall success. Janene explains why her alternative approach, keeping each salon separate, has brought long-term success and security to her salon group.
Janene’s tips for an expansion plan
Janene says: “I have always been someone who strikes while the iron is hot. I see opportunities, and I go from there. That’s how I’ve become the owner of four salons in eight years. In 2015, I turned a bookshop in Saxmundham into Heavenly Hair. In 2018, I transformed a silver jewellery shop in Aldeburgh into Sir & Co Barbers, which I recently rebranded as Hair & Co. In March 2020, I refurbished a former wine shop into the Quay Street Collective. And, in early 2023, I took over an existing salon, Hair Affair, in Wickham Market.”
Know your local
Janene says that it is the local area that inspired each salon’s identity. All of her salons already had their own former lives, and she wanted to capture this.
“The area and community are very different at each location, so my approach to branding, the team and how each one operated had to be individual to the salon. Hair & Co in Aldeburgh is a wealthy, holiday or second home destination. We get a lot of walk-in clients who are visiting the area. These clients are leisurely and spend more time and money in the salon. Heavenly Hair in Saxmundham is our busy, all-round salon. We have loyal, regular clients who work their appointments around their daily lives. In contrast, at Hair Affair in Wickham Market, perms are one of our top services and the clients rarely venture out of town.
All about identity
“Giving each salon its own identity helps to diversify what we offer as a salon group. The different salons enable us to provide services to a wide demographic of people and to meet the needs of the local clientele. This approach also supports our salon recruitment and allows us to offer different working environments that suit a wide range of stylists.”
Let’s talk finance
Not only do Janene’s salons differ in name, style and demographic, but she made the conscious decision to have them operate separate entities in a financial sense, too.
“When the pandemic hit in 2020, and we opened Quay Street Collective, it made sense to ringfence each salon as a standalone business. This way, if anything happened to one of the salons, it wouldn’t impact the others. It was a protective measure that makes good business sense going forward.”
Invest in the future of your business and your team
Janene is also passionate about providing secure, sustainable futures for others and, because of this, has offered shares of her salons to team members.
“The shares scheme keeps the businesses running and gives my team a chance to own part of something that will help to secure their future. Now, the salons are something that we are building together, and that creates accountability and investment amongst the team.”
Easy-to-use booking system
Keeping the salons separate but making it easy for clients to book, Janene created a website encompassing all four salons. This allows customers to choose their preferred salon and appointment time.
“Combining our salons on one website will help to keep them busy and booked. If a customer can’t get the day they want at one salon, it’s a simple click to find another. We are keeping our clientele within the salon group and giving potential new customers a chance to browse each salon and team to find one they like. It also means just one website to manage and maintain rather than four.”
Janene says she is super-satisfied with her four salons and the trusted reputation she has built. But that’s not to say she won’t jump on the next opportunity when it arises. Janene will apply the same approach to any future business to ensure their continued success.
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