The vision has always been for 200 Just Cuts salons in Australia and New Zealand but with more competition in the market the franchisor has become more discerning about site selection.
When once you could find a Just Cuts outlet in a B grade location that would be developed to become a destination store, these days the layout of shopping centres can provide too many entry points and not enough foot traffic.
“Then there is the young leasing gun wanting to prove themselves who will back fill inappropriately into sites causing collateral damage and churn based on the short term decisions rather than long term success of businesses in their centre’s community,” Denis McFadden, Just Cuts CEO and founder, explains.
If the venue offered means footfall shared with many other salons and it does not meet the business model for success, then it’s not an option, he reiterates.
“It’s all to do with the numbers. So we are knocking back some sites and centres now. The upside is with our new look and value for money service, the shopping centres are chasing us and want us seen as a presence for their customers’ convenience. After 20 years we can handle the shopping centre rents and if it gets too high we just walk.”
As well as the 200 salons, the company plan is to continue with global expansion and to help achieve this goal Just Cuts has selected an advisory board.
“Now we are the biggest hairdressing group we truly want to be the best. Every day more than 9000 people find the easy way to look good with Just Cuts – their satisfaction is our profession’s greatest reward,” says
McFadden.
Denis McFadden
When Aussie hairdresser Denis McFadden hit the streets of London in the swinging ’60s he landed on his feet. From a down-on-his-luck apprentice given a thumbs down by his Sydney boss, McFadden found himself creating style cuts in Mayfair before travelling the world on P&O ships as on-board stylist.
Knowing he could make it in the hairdressing arena McFadden returned to Sydney and set up his own business based on the idea of fixed price haircuts, no appointments necessary.
He has built a network across Australia and New Zealand, achieved status for Just Cuts as the official hairdresser for the Sydney Olympics, expanded into India, the world’s largest democracy with a huge middle class income, and has plans for further overseas development.