September 7, 2005
Groomed for Growth
Spokane-based Weldon Barber plans Seattle-area expansion.
Spokesman Review
September 7, 2005
Alison Boggs
After enduring a year of trial and error typical to any start-up, Spokane-based Weldon Barber is preparing to open six Seattle-area stores within the next six months.
Launched with financial backing from Bill Nordstrom, whose great-grandfather founded the Nordstrom department store chain, the men’s styling salon company has five Spokane-area stores and one in Coeur d’Alene.
Now, an Oct. 26 opening date has been set for an Issaquah store, to be followed by shops in Kirkland and Bellevue before Christmas. After the holiday season, shops are scheduled to open in Mill Creek, Federal Way and near the University of Washington.
“We’ve learned enough to think we can now go to a pretty big, sophisticated market and begin this attempt to do what we’ve set our sights on” which is in a sense changing the entire industry, starting with men,” said Nordstrom, who, with his wife Suzette, is the majority owner of the company.
Weldon entered the market with interest booming in men’s grooming. The company wanted to create a salon for men that catered to their tastes, not a setting laden with heavy hair-product perfumes or filled with fashion magazines. Weldon has dark leather couches, large-screen TVs, and coffee tables stacked with Sports Illustrated, Newsweek and GQ. Hairstylists are called barbers but are also trained in massage because the business believes men also want to be pampered. Haircuts include neck shaves, shoulder massages and hot towel treatments.
Nordstrom resigned from Nordstrom’s in August 2000, citing a desire to spend more time with family. When he left, he was executive vice president of the company’s East Coast operations. After moving his family here in 2001, he said Spokane needs to have a company that it is known for and takes pride in, the way Seattle is known for Starbucks and Costco, and Portland is known for Nike.
Weldon Barber could be that company in Spokane, he said, with shops stretching across the country but the corporate headquarters remaining right here. And no one should scoff at a hair salon setting such a precedent or being compared to corporate giants, Nordstrom said. One need only look at how Starbucks changed the coffee industry to see that a company that treats employees well, creates a fun experience for customers, and delivers a quality product can have the same industry-changing effect, regardless of the industry, he said.
“From little ole Spokane, that is what this start-up effort really has become and we don’t know if we are going to be the industry-changer we want to be, but that’s what we’re trying to do,” Nordstrom said. “My role has been looking at the other industries where somebody has come in and turned it upside down and then the industry ends up following.”
But the company has struggled through a year typical of any start-up. Three top managers have left and the company’s new management team has struggled with “silly, laughable” mistakes, Nordstrom said. That includes a decision to make stylists wear uniforms, which led to months of heated debate before the policy was abolished.
The lesson they learned, Nordstrom said, is “Don’t implement any managerial, procedural processes, which we did a lot of.” Now, he said, managers turn to hairdressers more frequently for assistance with decisions, as they are closest to the customers.
In addition, the planned expansion into Seattle has taken six months longer than expected due to heavy competition for retail space in Seattle’s suburbs, Nordstrom said. The company tries to find space near Starbucks outlets, with plentiful parking.
“They ask for convenience,” said Weldon President Robin Kincaid, who is heading the expansion. “When we look at locations, we take that into consideration. Is it easy to get to? Can I drive right up? Is there free parking?”
Though the company is not profitable yet, Nordstrom believes it’s only a matter of time.
“Half the population of America is the market base for this,” he said. “What is the growth potential for Weldon? Well, get out your calculator and start punching keys. It’s not real scientific.”
March 16, 2005
Selling Nordstrom-Style Service, Almost to a Hair
A former officer at the department store chain is the main investor in a string of barbershops aimed at offering men good cuts and extras.
L.A. Times
March 16, 2005
By John K. Wiley, Associated Press
It all started with a bad haircut.
In Spokane, Wash., where the mullet is still a socially acceptable hairstyle, Bill Nordstrom was disappointed after a trip to the barberr
The result was Weldon Barber, a string of upscale men-only barbershops devoted to the customer service his family’s Nordstrom department stores made famous.
Nordstrom, 41, is the main investor in Weldon Barber, which opened six shops in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, last fall.
The company’s name, a play on the words “well done,” was chosen in a series of meetings between Nordstrom and Julie Kembel, a longtime friend of Nordstrom’s wife, Suzette.
The former college friends reunited after Bill Nordstrom resigned in August 2000 as executive vice president of Nordstrom Inc.’s East Coast operations and moved back to Spokane, where Suzette Nordstrom grew up.
A former executive vice president and cousin of Nordstrom Inc. President Blake Nordstrom, Bill Nordstrom spent time in the 1980s at the family’s Spokane store.
“My background [in retail sales] led me to believe it’s possible to do this,” Nordstrom said. “My wife said maybe this is something that would be a good business. It occurred to me it might be.”
Visitors to the shops are offered coffee, cola or bottled water as they wait in oversized leather chairs. A coffee table overflowing with men’s magazines is under a large plasma screen television.
For $22, customers get scalp and shoulder massages, hot mint-scented facial towels, a razor trim and a haircut by a specially trained barber. Hair coloring and beard trims are extra.
Weldon Barber is being launched as traditional barbers are closing but spa-style men’s parlors are gaining popularity.
Several national marketing surveys estimate the men’s hair-care industry to be a proposition worth $10 billion to $15 billion a year. The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts growth in specialty barbering, even though traditional barbershops are hanging on.
“We have been looking at growth in the number of salon-spas exclusively for men,” said Wendy Liebmann, president of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York market research company.
“When we started looking at the industry, traditional barbershops were, statistically, the fastest-shrinking category in the ‘beauty’ industry,” Nordstrom said.
Commodity franchises, such as Supercuts Inc., are part of the reason, he said.
“It’s hard for barbershops to compete against price-competitive models,” he said. “We thought there was room in the market for an alternative that was more service-oriented. What we have found, it’s being well received.”
Plans are for expansion to other cities in the Northwest and, eventually, nationally, Kembel said. The company is looking to open six more stores in the Seattle area this fall.
“We wanted to make sure that the No. 1 focus was the customer and the employee,” she said. “It’s a people business, so we want to make sure that we are being consistent with the customer as well as consistent with our employees.”
That makes for a more portable business, she said.
“We wanted to make sure that whether the customer went to a shop in downtown Spokane, or whether he goes to a shop, potentially, in Seattle or wherever, that he gets the same consistent quality experience each time,” Kembel said.
Attention to detail, a hallmark of Nordstrom department stores, is what will separate Weldon Barber from its competitors, she said.
“There are so many details that we have perfected, to know that these are the things men will embrace, they’ll enjoy and that they ultimately will be loyal to,” she said. “It’s consistent, it’s quality, it’s clean, it’s dependable, comfortable, masculine, and it’s a great haircut. There are a lot of things that go into that $22 haircut and this experience.”
March 7, 2005
One Nordstrom Plans to Bring ‘Well Done,’ Haircuts to Seattle
In this midsize Eastern Washington city, where the mullet is still a socially acceptable hairstyle, Bill Nordstrom was disappointed after a trip to the barber.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
March 7, 2005
By John K. Wiley, Associated Press
SPOKANE — It all started with a bad haircut.
In this midsize Eastern Washington city, where the mullet is still a socially acceptable hairstyle, Bill Nordstrom was disappointed after a trip to the barber.
The result was Weldon Barber, a string of upscale men-only barbershops devoted to the customer service his family’s Nordstrom department stores made famous.
Nordstrom, 41, is the main investor in Weldon Barber, which opened six shops in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, last fall.
The company’s name, a play on the words “well done,” was chosen in a series of meetings between Nordstrom and Julie Kembel, a longtime friend of Nordstrom’s wife, Suzette.
The former college friends reunited after Nordstrom resigned in August 2000 as executive vice president of Nordstrom’s East Coast operations and moved back to Spokane, where Suzette Nordstrom grew up.
A cousin of Nordstrom Inc. President Blake Nordstrom, Bill Nordstrom spent time in the 1980s at the family’s Spokane store.
“My background (in retail sales) led me to believe it’s possible to do this,” Nordstrom said in a recent interview. “My wife said maybe this is something that would be a good business. It occurred to me it might be.”
Visitors to the shops are offered coffee, cola or bottled water as they wait in oversized leather chairs, peruse men’s magazines on an oversize coffee table and watch a large plasma screen television.
For $22, customers get scalp and shoulder massages, hot mint-scented facial towels, a razor trim and haircut by a specially trained barber. Hair coloring and beard trims are extra.
Weldon Barber is being launched when traditional barbers are closing, but spa-style men’s parlors are gaining popularity.
Several national marketing surveys estimate the men’s hair care industry to be a $10 billion to $15 billion a year proposition. The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts growth in specialty barbering, with traditional barbershops hanging on.
“We have been looking at growth in the number of salon-spas exclusively for men,” said Wendy Liebmann, president of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York market research company.
“When we started looking at the industry, traditional barbershops were, statistically, the fastest shrinking category in the ‘beauty’ industry,” Nordstrom said.
Commodity franchises, such as Supercuts, are part of the reason, Nordstrom said.
“It’s hard for barbershops to compete against price-competitive models,” he said. “We thought there was room in the market for an alternative that was more service-oriented. What we have found, it’s being well received.”
Plans are for expansion to other cities in the Northwest and eventually, nationally, Kembel said. The company is looking to open six stores in the Seattle area next fall.
“We wanted to make sure that the No. 1 focus was the customer and the employee,” she said. “It’s a people business, so we want to make sure that we are being consistent with the customer as well as consistent with our employees.”
That makes for a more portable business, she said.
“We wanted to make sure that whether the customer went to a shop in downtown Spokane, or whether he goes to a shop, potentially, in Seattle or wherever, that he gets the same consistent quality experience each time,” Kembel said.
Attention to detail, a hallmark of the Nordstrom department stores, is what will separate Weldon Barber from its competitors, she said.
”There are so many details that we have perfected; to know that these are the things men will embrace, they’ll enjoy and that they ultimately will be loyal to,” she said. ”It’s consistent, it’s quality, it’s clean, it’s dependable, comfortable, masculine and it’s a great haircut. There are a lot of things that go into that $22 haircut and this experience.”
The stores all are company-owned, not franchises, to ensure consistent service every time, Kembel said.
Although the shops do not offer the full “spa” experience, the company is studying requests for other services, such as manicures, facials and full face shaves, she said.
Spokane, with a metropolitan population of about 400,000, offers the perfect test market, Nordstrom said.
“A market like Spokane has a lot of diversity and different neighborhoods where we could put locations in and see the responses we got and make changes to services,” Nordstrom said. “It’s not your standard franchise model because we are taking a more service-oriented approach than is out there currently.”
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