SALON IMPROVES ON INDUSTRY MODEL

ESCONDIDO, CA - A trip to a salon can be a lot of things: a mundane necessity, a time to relax, a gossip session, or a way to celebrate achievements or changes in life. But one salon, The Loft Hair Design in Escondido, seeks to take the experience further, turning it into a venue for social causes.

"Our industry can be so superficial," owner Shawna Cruise said, "but we can change people's lives." Cruise said The Loft Hair Design, which opened in 1998, holds four fundraisers and community events each year to support various organizations. For example, the salon recently collected 960 inches of hair for Locks of Love, a charity that provides wigs for children with medical hair loss; in December, it provided free makeovers to women graduating from Serenity House's drug and alcohol recovery program.

This summer, the salon, which was recently named one of the country's top 200 salons by Salon Today Magazine, will focus on skin cancer. The campaign includes discounts on skin care products and procedures, and on July 15, the salon will host an event with food, drinks and skin mapping. In addition, Cruise invited a skin care expert from Palomar Pomerado Health group to teach her staff to recognize signs of skin cancer on their clients.

Cruise said the events have gotten easier to organize ---- and more successful ---- since she began changing her business structure a few years ago. When Cruise first opened the salon, she followed the typical business structure of most midpriced salons ---- she provided chairs and supplies to stylists who rented the space each month. But after several years of following this model, Cruise noticed that The Loft Hair Design was not making money. When looking at why she was not making money and what she could do to change that, Cruise began exploring the business model typically used by salons on the extreme ends of the cost scale: hiring stylists as employees, not contractors.

It took three years to implement the new business structure, she said, but as of January, all 21 people working in the salon were employees. The new structure, she said, "allows me to create a team focused on the common goal." She ensures that each stylist she hires supports not only the company's goal of quality customer service, but also its dedication to serving the community.

Cruise invests time and money into each stylist, handpicking them from local cosmetology schools and then bringing them into the salon to be assistants before administering a test that will allow them to work as full-fledged stylists. And it appears that the investment is paying off so far. "Right now, we're right on the edge of becoming profitable," she said. The company broke even last year with gross sales of $570,000. She projects that sales will reach $725,000 in 2006. "We're seeing direct results from the change in business structure," she said.