| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hair salon |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Headquarters | Edina, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Key people | Ray Barton (Chairman of the Board) Rhoda Olsen (CEO) Charlie Simpson (President) |
| Website | www.greatclips.com |
Great Clips is a hair salon franchise in the United States and Canada with over 5,000 locations across the United States and Canada.[1] It is headquartered in Edina, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2010, it had system wide sales of $950 million.
Great Clips was founded in 1982 as four franchised salons of Canadian-based franchiser Super Clips.
The first “Great Clips” salon opened near the University of Minnesota campus in 1982. The first franchised Great Clips salon followed the next year, opening in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The company grew from 150 franchised salons in 1988 to 1000 in 1997,[2] 2500 in 2006,[3] 3,000 by 2011.
Current Chairman of the Board, Ray Barton, began working with Lemmon and Rubenzer in the fall of 1982 and became part owner and CEO in March 1983. Barton bought out Lemmon and Rubenzer in 1997, and is currently the majority owner.[4]
In 2011, Rhoda Olsen was promoted to CEO and Charlie Simpson was promoted to President.