“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

I happened to be observing as photographer Parish Kohanim was arranging the powerhouse salon owners for this month’s cover shoot, and that phase kept running through my head. Each of the 13 models—Candy Shaw, Tony Samples Kvapil, Lester Crowell, Matthew Khodayari, Steve Hightower, Jeff South, Jyl Craven, Joseph Golshani, Carol Siggers, Jessica Soler, Flonnie Westbrook, Jim Shaw and Van Council—represented one of the owners from the salons that founded the Atlanta Salon Owners Group. I started contemplating the beauty business value of the group, and the reporter in me couldn’t resist asking these owners a few more questions.

On site at the March cover shoot with Matthew Khodayari, o-owners of Aria Salon; Brian Perdue, owner of Salon 124; Stacey Soble; Candy Shaw, owner of Jamison Shaw Hairdressers, Jeff South, co-owner of Intrigue Salon and Joseph Golshani, owner of Joseph & Friends Salon and Spa.
On site at the March cover shoot with Matthew Khodayari, o-owners of Aria Salon; Brian Perdue, owner of Salon 124; Stacey Soble; Candy Shaw, owner of Jamison Shaw Hairdressers, Jeff South, co-owner of Intrigue Salon and Joseph Golshani, owner of Joseph & Friends Salon and Spa.

Collectively, the salons represented on our cover employ 916 stylists, colorists, estheticians, nail technicians, massage therapists and support staff. In 2016, they rang up 881,520 client tickets. And, their salons occupy 111,152 square feet of space. When it comes to the hair products they carry, they run the gamut, with L’Oreal, Wella, Kerastase, Redken, Aveda, Pureology, Shu Uemura, Smart, Oak for Men, Goldwell, Arrojo, Aquage, Balmain, Oribe, Bumble & Bumble, and MorrocanOil represented, along with a number of private labels. Combined with the other salons that make up the Atlanta Salon Owners Group, they are keeping Atlanta beautiful. It was fascinating to spend a day watching a room of people who essentially are competitors share successful ideas, learn together and support one another.

The New Education Destination

Harvesting the industry’s success stories and sharing them with all salons to elevate the industry is the foundation of two exciting events that Modern Salon Media family is hosting in 2017. And, coincidentally we chose Atlanta as our home base for both.

I’m excited to announce that Salon Today is partnering with ZeeZor to launch a totally new kind of salon business conference, the Data Driven Salon, which will be held at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast, June 25-26, 2017. This unique event will take a deep-dive into the metrics of salon success leveraging the data resources from ZeeZor and Salon Today. Participants will see how their own numbers stack up against some of the most successful salons, and they will learn from owners and stylists who constantly excel in areas such as retail sales, service sales, sales per ticket, client retention and staff retention. Early bird rates of $299 are available until March 31. For more information, visit datadrivensalon.com or call 310-533-2445.

Last October, Modern Salon held the first HAIR+ Summit, one of the first hair loss and hair thinning educational events organized by stylists for stylists. The event was a success, and the Summit’s advisory board is well underway planning year two, which will include both introductory and advanced tracks to meet the needs of stylists with varying degrees of experience in addressing hair loss. Mark your calendars, the event will be held at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast, September 24-25, 2017. Find out more or register at hairplussummit.com.

 

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.