Stylists Open High-Tech Salon
May 17, 2011
Yet next week, at a cost of $2 million --10 times that of the nation's average upscale salon -- the husband-and-wife team will open their ultra-high-tech Salon Visage. ``We're competing globally, not locally,'' says Mr. Plumb, who owns three salons here with his wife and has customers from seven states. ``Clients aren't going to know how to act.'' Indeed. Culling ideas from Paris, New York and Sydney, the Gambuzzas have, for starters, done away with the waiting room. Instead, 22 computers and electronic ``lookout'' stations will help zip customers to the appropriate departments without checking in at a front desk (to provide immediate service, the salon will have 80 employees, one-third more than usual). From there, things get even more techie. Italian color-processing ``hoods'' will allow the salon to color hair in four minutes, instead of the usual 45. For shampoos, reclining leather chairs will electronically adjust for a client's height. At the hair-cutting station, ornate mirrors with special lighting will ``frame the client in a photograph,'' says Mr. Plumb, 38 years old. And as hair falls, a central vacuum will discreetly suck it away. For businesspeople, Salon Visage has special phone lines and fax machines. Customers can also have their shoes shined and cars washed while they're inside. Of course, these amenities come at a price: $34.50 on average for a cut, $75 for a coloring. ``Today, clients are dollar-rich and time-poor,'' says Mrs. Plumb, 37. ``So this salon is designed to give the highest level of service in the shortest time.'' Does Knoxville need all this? ``We're not country bumpkins,'' says Mr. Plumb. ``To hell with the status quo. If it's happening and it's hip, it will be here.'' --Monique Cooke
