Kathy Woods…The Phenix Salon Suites held their Grand Opening and Open House last Saturday October 8th in the Melrose Village Shopping Center next to Albertsons. The balloons and music by the Bree/Jones Band drew customers and passers by where everyone was able to have some hors d’oeuvres deliciously prepared by Isaac’s Catering, locally prepared in Vista. The Vista Chamber of Commerce also held their ribbon cutting for Phenix Salon Suites on October 14th to welcome them to the Chamber.
Phenix Salon Suites is a national company that has over 200 franchises across the country. Mike Assof and his wife Maya, bought this franchise along with his partner David Huffman and his wife Magdelena. They are the General Contractors and Owners that purchased this franchise 4 1/2 years ago. The location has 5,002 sq. ft. and has 29 individual suites, each with its own Salon Industry Expert, which are 100% full. They hit the ground running with only 3 suites filled and after changing some marketing strategies in March they filled the suites to 100%, and now they have a waiting list. They have another site in Corona that just opened a month ago and it is also 100% full. It is a smaller location, only 23 suites, plus they are also developing sites in Santa Ana and Ontario.
The suites consist of hairstylists, skin care, lashes, permanent makeup, estheticians, cosmetologists, manicurists, consultants and more on site. Some of the girls or guys will lease an individual suite but they don’t have enough clientele yet, so they share a suite. Mike said, “this is fine with us, and as they build up their clientele they will jump off and get their own suite.” Some of the girls, as we walked through, have two suites, so they open up the wall and combine them. One of the girls said she was going to lease her own suite in this location but it was a much smaller one. Mike said, “I will help you. This is a stepping stone for you and you can be your own entrepreneur. But the more I talked to her, I said, “We can do that here. We will take out these walls and you can have an upgraded lobby, beautiful bathrooms, washers, dryers, Wi-Fi and other amenities available here. If you did your own thing you would have to provide all that, including an 800 sq. ft. bathroom, and now you have a 700 sq. ft. bathroom and no storage. She now has a beautiful suite and is doing great. She has girls that she chair rents to and she rents the suite from us.”
Everyone is an Independent Owner Operator that leases and has a license. The only employee is a Manager. Nationally it is a great concept because they are entrepreneurs. They are not employees, so they have to make their own bread and butter by putting their heart and soul into their own business. There is no one to answer to except themselves.
“I’ve owned a lot of businesses and a construction company, and when there are many employees, the dynamics are quite different. That is always why I have profit share programs, so there is some incentive for the employee to do well every day. As an Owner, it’s our responsibility to provide a good environment for them. They also don’t have to worry about the extra overhead. The utilities are paid and everything is covered. We write one check and that’s it. We have competitors, but we are equally competitive. So we did our due diligence to find a location that fits and works for us. There are a lot of things that need to make sense to make it work. This is a really good area. The landlords really like our concept. This site will bring in 3500 people a month on average. Please come by and say hi and take a tour,” Mike stated.
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1605 S Melrose Drive, Vista,92081
