August 2011 – Minneapolis, Minn. – In July, Minnesota’s own Great Clips, a national salon chain founded in 1982, opened its 3,000th salon in Albert Lea, Minn. – an achievement made possible in part by designers at Krech, O’Brien, Mueller & Associates.
After the rejected first attempt at a redesigned prototype from an Ohio-based firm, KOMA was asked to work with Great Clips to develop a new salon design that was more consistent with its “Relax” brand. With a warm, current color palette, welcoming reception area, soft lighting and appealing product merchandising system, the team at KOMA with their partners at Great Clips, Inc., brought the brand to life in a whole new way.
Cindy Douthett Nagel, CID, interior designer at KOMA and project manager for the Great Clips account, said, “There’s great power in successfully executing a brand through design, and when Great Clips wasn’t pleased with the way in which its “Relax” brand was interpreted by another firm, they asked us to take a fresh look. Now, more than six years later, the new design has inspired the opening not only of new stores, but of significant numbers of remodels from the “Classic” to the “Relax” design, breathing new life into the brand and claiming a significant stake in the marketplace.”
Great Clips has grown to more than 25,000 employees in 150 markets in the United States and Canada, and achieved sales in 2009 that topped $760 million. For their part on the prototype, KOMA was given the “Vendor of the Year” award by Great Clips in 2006.