Great Clips hair salon franchise records busiest leasing quarter in five years

While some hair salon franchises are cutting back and independent beauty salons are shuttering locations, real estate landlords are aggressively pursuing Great Clips as a tenant in existing shopping centers across the U.S. and Canada.

"There are two forces colliding in the real estate market and it's creating a windfall of opportunity for Great Clips franchisees: vacancies are up and rents are down," said Rob Goggins, vice president franchise development for Great Clips. "It's a perfect storm that's altering the landscape in the real estate market, and providing us with unprecedented opportunities."

Landlords welcome Great Clips franchise salons because value-priced haircuts attract families in droves. And franchise finance companies continue to lend money to Great Clips franchisees because after 21 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth, they have confidence in the leading brand's business model.

"All this is happening while our fixture costs are declining, construction bids are more competitive, and our consumer sales are strong," says Goggins. "Great Clips franchise owners are jumping on these opportunities and aggressively expanding.

"Our typical franchisee invests in Great Clips in order to transition out of corporate America or diversify their business portfolio. Successful franchisees usually come from the middle- and upper-level executive ranks of industry, or currently operate their own business. They possess strong management, leadership, communications and people skills. And, they don't cut hair. They are CEOs of their Great Clips, managing people and growing their businesses."

In December, AllBusiness.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet,

released its 2010 Franchise AllStar 300 listing and once again ranked the Great

Clips franchise opportunity as the top hair salon business franchise opportunity.

"This economy has made it easier than ever for Great Clips franchisees to gain access to the best centers," adds Goggins, "now is a great time to invest in Great Clips, the world's number one hair salon brand franchise."

About Great Clips :

Great Clips is North America's largest hair salon brand franchise with more than 2,800 salons conveniently located in high-visibility strip malls in almost 140 markets. In addition to its Dun & Bradstreet ranking, Great Clips consistently ranks among Entrepreneur magazine's Franchise 500Ò. Entrepreneur ranked Great Clips as one of its "Fastest Growing" and one of "America's Top Global Franchises" in 2009. Franchise Times magazine ranked Great Clips 90^th in system-wide sales in its annual Top 200 listing of worldwide franchise chains.