Great Clips, Inc. Awards $100,000

Great Clips, Inc. Awards $100,000

Minneapolis, Minn., (July 14, 2014) – Earlier this month Great Clips, Inc. awarded 100 cosmetology students each a $1,000 scholarship for a total of $100,000.

Scholarships were awarded as part of the 2014 Great Clipper Event, which brought local Great Clips franchisees into local cosmetology schools across the United States and Canada.

More than 18,000 students at 1,000 schools participated in the Great Clipper Event, a turnkey program designed to build relationships between Great Clips franchisees and cosmetology schools.

Participating franchisees visited their local school to share advanced clipper cutting knowledge, to provide information about career opportunities with Great Clips, and to award gifts and prizes, including these recently awarded scholarships.

“Great Clips employs over 35,000 stylists in salons across North America and they were all students at one time.

We’re proud to offer these scholarships to students who may one day become part of the incredibly talented team of Great Clips stylists,” says Rhoda Olsen, CEO of Great Clips.

The $1,000 scholarships that went to 100 Great Clipper Event participants this year were awarded by Olsen and Chairman of the Board Ray Barton through the GREAT Scholarship program in memory of their mother, Alice Madden Barton.

About Great Clips, Inc.

Established in 1982, Great Clips perfected a system for delivering competitively priced, high-quality haircuts to men, women and children with no appointments. When Great Clips opened the first salons back in 1982 there were just a few dreamers, but with hard work, solid business practices and the right people, they truly revolutionized the haircare industry.

In 1983, Ray (Barton) called his friends, Roger and Marylu Ledebuhr, every night for well over a month, hounding them to open the first Great Clips franchise in Brooklyn Center, Minn. Partially in an effort to stop Ray from calling and to get some peace and quiet, the Ledebuhrs and their partner Mary Lou Barton agreed to open the first Great Clips franchise—that first franchised location opened on July 16, 1983.

Ray, one of the early Great Clips leaders and now Chairman, recalls, “In 1988, I set a goal to reach 3,000 salons and everyone thought I was crazy. I was naive enough to believe we could do it, and we did! “We were customer-focused; we had a great system, a focused development strategy and a strong relationship with our franchisees (salon owners),” notes Barton. Over the past three decades, Great Clips has continued to apply this same steady approach that made them the world's largest salon brand.

Today, Great Clips has more than 3,500 salons throughout the United States and Canada, making it the world’s largest salon brand.

Great Clips salons employ nearly 35,000 stylists who receive ongoing training to learn the Great Clips customer service system and advanced technical skills. Make Great Clips your choice for value-priced, high-quality haircare for men, women and children.

No appointments are needed, and salons are open nights and weekends. And it’s more convenient than ever with Great Clips’ Online Check-In and Clip Notes®. For more information about Great Clips, Inc. or to find a location near you, visit GreatClips.com.