Phenix Salon Suites opens first Chattanooga storefront near Hamilton Place
Feb. 26—One of the nation's fastest-growing franchised providers of salon suites has opened its first Chattanooga storefront in the Hamilton Village across from Hamilton Place Mall.
Phenix Salon Suites, which offers spacious suites for independent salon and lifestyle professionals to rent on a month-to-month basis, is expanding into the Chattanooga market as the California-based chain grows this month to 300 locations across the country.
Jenny Nevle, a franchisee for Phenix Salon Suites who operates other Phenix Salon Suites in the Atlanta area, is opening the new 5,600-square-foot facility in East Brainerd to house up to 31 suites of hairstylists, masseuses, beauticians, estheticians, barbers and other independent operators.
The new suite of salons opened this week with a variety of stylists, although Nevle said they are still renting additional suites within the new facility. Depending upon the success of the storefront, Nevle or other franchisees could add additional units in the region.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has been hard on most hair and nail salons and spas, the Phenix Salon Suites "Boutique" business model allows independent beauticians, masseuses, and estheticians to operate in their own suites within a suite of similar operators. With a more separated suite than in most hair or nail salons, the Phenix model offers operators more safety, flexibility and independence than most such businesses, company president Brian Kelley said.
"Last year, we opened 33 salons and sold 57 licenses so we had a very good year even during the pandemic," Kelley said. "What's driving this growth is that the salon industry is looking for safety and security. A conventional salon is a wide open salon that shares washbowls and chairs are right next to each other. In our salons, each stylist has his or her own suite and there are not shared washbowls and waiting areas and each operates by appointment only."
Nationwide, about 70% of the tenants in Phenix Salon Suites are hair stylists with the other 30% of salon users split between nail techs, massage therapists, barbers, chiropractors, tattoo artists. The typical unit includes 5,000 square feet split up into suites rented to about 30 hair or nail stylists that have their own book of business.
The stores take walk-in customers who select which salon suite operator they want when they come into the store.
"It's the equivalent to a booth rental except that you have a suite with your own business that you are free to operate the hours you want," Kelley said. "The operators have their own set of keys and can operate their own business within their suite anyway they want and rent on a month-to-month basis. We provide each tenant the space they need with some basic furniture and basically get out of the way and let them succeed."
Phenix Salon Suites provides tenants with a mobile app to book appointments, communicate, confirm and pay for hair, nail, and massage services provided by the business owners that reside in a location.
Phenix Salon Suites has been one of the fastest-growing salon suite companies in the beauty industry and the only one to ever be named to Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 500 Franchise List. The company has now been named five times to the list recently was ranked in the Top 25.
Kelley said most franchisees of Phenix Salon Suites operate two to five locations. The chain has grown most of its 300 locations in the past decade and Kelley said the company is trying to grow to 1,000 locations.
"We're expanding everywhere and I think Tennessee, in general, is a great business environment and we probably should have come to Chattanooga sooner," Kelley said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.
