When was the first salon opened




















Her high-end clientele — still insistent on home visits — were opposed to the idea of going to a public salon. When a music teacher next door to her business mentioned he had no waiting room, Harper offered up her salon.

Women began to wander in to get hair treatments while waiting for their children to finish their piano lessons. In short order, the 3-chair shop was bustling with prominent women from other cities, too. Though Harper received requests to open up salons in other cities, she refused to expand until a certain number of women in that community signed a petition. A shrewd operator, she was keenly aware of market testing.

Harper knew that she had to maintain strict control over her brand and the quality of her service. She also knew she had to find operators she could trust. She set out to hire women who came from a similar background as her: lower-class servants and housemaids who had the ambition and discipline to run a business but lacked the capital.

To own her own franchise, a Harperite would pay a fee paid back as a loan over time , and agree to only stock Harper products — brushes, tonics, chairs, sinks. Harper chose each location and controlled signage and advertisements. In , Harper launched a second location — considered to be the first retail franchise in the US — in Buffalo, New York. The business model was so successful and scalable that by , Harper had opened franchises in cities across the US, Canada, and Europe.

It was enough to earn Harper a spot as the only female member of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce. Harper, by then a wealthy woman, even bailed out the woman she once served: When Ms. In , at age 63, Harper married Robert A. MacBain, a year-old army colonel. With her companion, she set her sights even higher. The cultural revolution of the s brought with it a tremendous shift in the beauty industry. Flappers suddenly favored makeup, lipstick, and new inventions like the curling iron and hair dyes.

Through it all, Harper maintained a focus on natural products. She doubled down on the production of her tonic and natural shampoos, expanding from shops to shops in the span of one year She expanded her services to men and introduced her products to department stores.

During the Depression, and an age of massive discounting, she stuck with her premium prices and kept the focus on exceptional quality and customer service. By the time she passed away in , at the age of 93, Harper had grown her business into a salon empire. With her absence, the company lost relevance.

In , her husband sold the ailing business. Ownership bounced around in the following years until an ex-Harper chemist bought it in Today, a tire shop occupies her old factory in Rochester. We highly recommend giving it a read. Privacy policy. Generic filters Hidden label. Hidden label. The house servant who pioneered the franchising business model Martha Matilda Harper defied social roadblocks and gender norms to build a successful chain of hair salons.

By: Zachary Crockett zzcrockett. Despite these accomplishments, most people have never heard of her. Born into servitude Born on September 10, , in a small village in Ontario, Canada, Marth Matilda Harper began life with bleak prospects. Enjoying this article? Thank you for subscribing. Your submission failed. Please try again! Business and tech news in 5 minutes or less. Recent Posts. Electric truck maker Rivian gave its customers a much cooler ….

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To learn more about the different cookies we're using, check out our Cookie Settings. Decline Allow Cookies. It began in the s but exploded with the invention of Calgel, which preserves polish for at least two weeks.

Today, intricate nail art crosses all demographics, with Nails magazine reporting it the most in-demand manicure from As for why New York women have been devotees of the manicure for more than years, Shapiro says that the city itself is responsible.

Contact The Author Name required. Email required. Comment required. April 20, am. Cobb's Manicure Parlors left was the nation's first nail salon. Now art form has gone "digital" at shops like Sakura right.



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