Fantastic Sam”™s, a national chain of haircut salons, is planning a push in the New York market beginning with a store opening in Hartsdale.
Though the store had a soft opening on March 15, its official “grand opening” ceremony was conducted April 20 at the store”™s location in the Dalewood III Shopping Center in Hartsdale.
The company has 1,400 stores nationwide, but this is its first foray into the New York metro area. Fantastic Sam”™s is a franchisor. The average initial investment to open a Fantastic Sam”™s Hair Salon ranges from $100,000 to $225,000.
“New York was one of the few remaining large markets we didn”™t have a presence in,” said Jeff Sturgis, vice president of franchise sales and development for Fantastic Sam”™s. “We felt Hartsdale was the best opportunity to open up a salon. Certainly, population is something you look at, and there”™s certain economic level we want to see.”
Sturgis described Fantastic Sam”™s as a “value-price, full-service” salon, targeting middle- to upper-middle-class consumers.
“Our price point is a little higher than many hair salons, but we”™re not a Fifth Avenue price,” he said.
The Hartsdale opening is part of a broader growth plan by the company that calls for 50 new locations in the New York market in the next five years.
The company is targeting Long Island, the five boroughs and Westchester County for its expansion. Each salon generates about 10 new jobs, allowing for over 500 jobs to be created with the expansion, according to the company.
When looking for a potential franchisee, Sturgis said they don”™t necessarily have to have a hair styling background.
“We”™re looking for a ”˜people person”™; someone with basic marketing skills, who is comfortable networking at a chamber function and doing community relations,” he said.
The franchisee at the Hartsdale store, Cari Dyslin, became familiar with Fantastic Sam”™s after going to a business broker for help when she and her husband were thinking about starting a business.
“We decided we wanted to go with a franchise and (the broker) came back with five franchise models,” said Dyslin. “We kept coming back to Fantastic Sam”™s.”
Dyslin had previously worked as a computer programming analyst for 10 years before deciding after having her second child to become a stay-at-home mom.
Now that the kids are older and in school, Dyslin said she wanted to come back to work, and believed Fantastic Sam”™s could fill a niche missing in Westchester County.
“We found it very hard to get a haircut here,” said Dyslin, a one-time Iowan who has lived in the county for five years. “It”™s either barber shops or very high-end salons.”
The previous business in the current Sam”™s location was also a hair salon, which she said has brought in a significant amount of foot traffic.
“We get people who walk in and say ”˜Oh, I used to get my hair cut here,”™” she said.
Though the salon does accept reservations, walk-ins are also welcome, she said.
Dyslin signed on to open three Sam”™s salons in the area, though she will be concentrating solely on the Hartsdale location for at least the next year.
“We really feel like once people come in, we can bring them back,” she said.
