Sola Salon Studios, the world’s largest salon studios franchise, is reporting significant growth in 2020, opening 60 new locations and signing 43 franchise agreements to develop 113 new salons throughout the U.S. and Canada over the next several years.
Of the 43 new agreements, 26 were signed with new franchisee groups and all but one joined after nationwide shutdowns of salon businesses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This strong performance through an unprecedented year, coupled with the brand’s reputation as the leading salon studios franchise, has positioned Sola for tremendous future growth as it remains on track to eclipse 600 locations in 2021.
“While 2020 brought unique challenges to Sola and our industry overall, it presented the opportunity for us to band together and unite in ways we never thought of before, and showed us just how resilient we are,” said Christina Russell, CEO of Sola Salon Studios. “Reflecting on the last year, I am humbled and incredibly proud of our home office team, our franchisees and every single one of the 16,000+ independent beauty professionals that call our brand home. When I think of all we accomplished during a time of such uncertainty, I have never been more excited and optimistic about for our brand’s future.”
In addition to its ongoing growth and development success, Sola Salon Studios saw a +15% increase in beauty professional lead volume year-over-year in 2020. In contrast to open concept footprints found in most traditional salons, each of Sola’s locations features a collection of 20-40 boutique, move-in-ready salon studios with floor-to-ceiling walls and glass doors that fully close, allowing stylists to operate their individual businesses in the safety of a completely private one-on-one space. Sola’s unique layout and intentional design resonated with many beauty professionals and their clients as they navigated updates related to COVID-19 and ongoing social distancing measures stemming from the pandemic.
To learn more about franchise opportunities with Sola Salon Studios, contact Lori Merrall, director of franchise development, at lori@solasalonstudios.com or visit www.solafranchising.com.