A new twist on hair salons is ready to roll into south Rochester.
Austinand Kari Lucasare setting up a Sola Salon Studiosfranchise in 5,200 square feet of space in Shoppes on Maine. Sola Salon is taking most of the strip of empty spots along the north side of the complex that houses MGM Liquorsand the former Best Buystore.
The concept is more like a mall than a traditional beauty salon. It will be a collection of 26 private studios that will be available for lease by licensed stylists and professionals in related fields. Three sizes of models will be available.
"We're not in the salon business," explained Austin Lucas. "We're in the business of putting people into business."
Each studio is its own independent operation with its own name, retail products, prices and hours.
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"They keep all of the money. They can start their own salon without any of the usual headaches of starting a business," he said. "This is several steps further than stylists renting a chair, like you see in many salons."
If everything goes as planned, construction should begin soon. The hope is to have the studios ready for tenants by early to mid-summer.
Besides a space, Sola Salon provides the hydraulic chairs, sinks and whatever other basic equipment that is needed.
Access to the studios is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That allows the tenants to be open when they want to work.
Three Sola Salon Studios are open in the Twin Cities, and two others are under construction. This will be the first one outside of the metro area.
