salon founded september 22 1982 ; 34 years ago 1982 09 22 headquarters bloomington minnesota u.s. key people ray barton chairman of the board rhoda olsen ceo steve hockett president revenue 1.03 billion website www.greatclips.com great clips is a hair salon franchise with over 3 700 locations across the united states and canada . it is headquartered in minneapolis minnesota . in 2013 it had system wide sales of 1.03 billion . 1 contents 1 history 2 corporate overview 2.1 facts and figures 2.2 leadership 2.3 business model 2.4 innovation 2.4.1 online check in 2.4.2 clip notes 3 charity 4 references 5 external links history edit great clips salon in wilmington north carolina . the first great clips salon opened under the name super clips near the university of minnesota campus on september 22 1982 . 2 great clips salons specialized in no frills low priced haircuts and found immediate success with their first three salons which opened over a span of three months . 3 in early 1983 founders steve lemmon and david rubenzer sought out a third partner in ray barton to spearhead great clips expansion and franchising . 4 the first franchised great clips salon opened for business on july 16 1983 in brooklyn center mn . 5 the company grew from 150 franchised salons in 1988 to 1 000 by 1997 . the 2 500th salon was opened in 2006 . 6 the first franchisees mary lou barton ray barton s wife and marylu and roger ledebuhr are still great clips franchisees today . the ledebuhrs opened the 3 000th great clips salon in 2011 . 7 in 1984 the three owners recruited rhoda olsen n e barton ray s sister to work for great clips part time as a training consultant to create training manuals and programs for franchisees and stylists . in march 1987 the partners convinced her to leave her position at land o lakes to work full time as the vice president of human resources at great clips . 8 in 1987 lemmon and rubenzer took a step back and named barton president of the company . 9 ten years later in 1997 barton bought out his partners lemmon rubenzer and jeff elgin to become the majority shareholder . 10 11 after 28 years as ceo of great clips barton stepped down in 2011 promoting his sister rhoda olsen who had served as president since 1998 . former executive vice president charlie simpson was promoted to president of the company . 12 in 2014 charlie simpson retired and steve hockett became company president . 13 corporate overview edit facts and figures edit great clips inc. has 4 000 salons in north america . 14 in 2013 great clips reported an annual revenue of 1.03 billion . 1 over 30 000 stylists are employed by great clips salons . 15 leadership edit ray barton chairman of the board rhoda olsen chief executive officer steve hockett president sandra anderson chief legal officer cfe rob goggins chief operations officer steve overholser chief financial officer and treasurer mari fellrath vice president of business intelligence yvonne mercer vice president of business service cfe terri miller sr. vice president of marketing and communications michelle sack vice president of learning and development nancy uden sr. vice president of franchise services and human resources 16 business model edit great clips inc. is a franchise company with over 3 700 salons across north america . the company is known for no appointment no frills salons that provide customers with affordable haircuts . the stripped down salons are as coo rob goggins has said not flashy or sexy but a very solid business model . 17 lean investment and operating costs of franchises have enabled great clips to provide low priced services and has led to ten year growth for the company . 18 the salons have been noted as a good investment as they are a low cost franchise with high growth potential . as noted by kiplingers the company has seen steady business even during the great recession because consumers tend to spend on grooming in both good times and bad . 19 innovation edit online check in edit in 2011 great clips launched online check in the industry s first real time check in application allowing customers to check wait times and add their name to the wait list before they visit the salon . 20 the app has been downloaded more than 3 million times and is used by about 20 percent of its customers . 21 clip notes edit in 2014 great clips introduced clip notes to track customer data and provide consistent customer service across salons . information tracked includes frequency of visits preferred salon and haircut preference . 22 charity edit since 1997 great clips inc. has hosted an annual charity golf classic to benefit children s hospitals and clinics of minnesota . in 2013 the event raised 245 000 . 23 participating great clips salons in the u.s. and canada raise money every october for the children s miracle network hospitals with the miracle balloon campaign . 24 in 2014 great clips introduced a new company wide charity initiative called clips of kindness to provide free clipper cuts for patients undergoing cancer treatments . 25 references edit a b http www.minnpost.com business 2014 01 great clips breaks 1 billion mark sticking basics yastrow shelby 2013 . vision to legacy the great clips story . minneapolis mn . great clips inc. p. 76 . isbn 978 0 9898521 1 1 . yastrow shelby 2013 . vision to legacy the great clips story . minneapolis mn . great clips inc. p. 90 . isbn 978 0 9898521 1 1 . yastrow shelby 2013 . vision to legacy the great clips story . minneapolis mn . great clips inc. p. 110 . isbn 978 0 9898521 1 1 . yastrow shelby 2013 . vision to legacy the great clips story . minneapolis mn . great clips inc. p. 133 . isbn 978 0 9898521 1 1 . great clips is moving at a rapid clip toward its goal of 3 000 salons . star tribune . march 11 1998 . yastrow shelby 2013 . vision to legacy the great clips story . minneapolis mn . great clips inc. p. 134 . isbn 978 0 9898521 1 1 . kelly patricia july 1 2007 . twin cities business http tcbmag.com honors and events minnesota business hall of fame 2007 minnesota business hall of fame ray barton . retrieved january 2 2015 . missing or empty title help yastrow shelby 2013 . vision to legacy the great clips story . minneapolis mn . great clips inc. p. 290 . isbn 978 0 9898521 1 1 . yastrow shelby 2013 . vision to legacy the great clips story . minneapolis mn . great clips inc. p. 468 . isbn 978 0 9898521 1 1 . http www.startribune.com lifestyle 52686252.html page 4 & c y http www.startribune.com business 115797849.html http www.startribune.com business 245638131.html http www.bizjournals.com twincities print edition 2015 01 02 executive of the year great clips inc ceo rhoda.html http www.greatclips.com about us http www.greatclips.com about us leadership http immpreneur.com stories great clips franchise profile https www.youtube.com watch v vxqacw4y7gw & feature youtu.be http www.kiplinger.com slideshow business t049 s010 low cost franchises with great growth potential index.html horowitz bruce 2011 05 31 . more people use apps to make appointments . usa today . retrieved 2012 04 19 . http www.startribune.com business 287156761.html http www.retail merchandiser.com index.php reports retail reports 1811 great clips http www.greatclips.com about us charities great clips charity golf http www.greatclips.com about us charities childrens miracle network http blog.caringbridge.org free clips of kindness cancer patients external links edit great clips franchising website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title great clips & oldid 743567615 categories companies established in 1982companies based in minneapolisfranchisesservice companies of the united states1982 establishments in minnesotahidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urls navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main 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