Based in Canada, Blo Blow Dry Bar, a hair styling concept, has more than 120 units in North America.
Hair styling franchise Blo Blow Dry Bar will finish the year with 19 units of its sister brand LashKind. The Toronto-based company bought eyelash extension company LashBar and it’s converting the existing stores to LashKind.
LashBar co-founders Joseph and Lina Mai remain involved with operations. The Mais started LashBar in San Diego in 2017. Around 2022, LashBar and Blo started talking about collaborating in some way, but “we just couldn’t come together,” Blo CEO Vanessa Yakobson said. “It didn’t make sense yet for the brands.”
A few months ago, however, felt like the right time. LashBar has more than a dozen stores open with more in the works, which Yakobson said was “big enough that we felt that there was already proof of concept, but small enough that we knew could come in and really have an impact on growing the system.”
Related: Blo CEO Prioritizes Collaboration to Grow Blow Dry Bar Brand
Blo acquired fellow Canadian brand Mync (pronounced “mink”), an eyelash and brow bar franchise, in 2022 when the chain had six units.
Vanessa Yakobson
“We got to a point where we felt really confident that we had developed a system and a whole suite of resources and tools and ways of engaging with our franchisees that we finally built the ship,” Yakobson said. “So we started saying, maybe now is the time to consider evolving into a platform company and finding other brands in the beauty and wellness space.”
Mync expanded into the United States under the name LashKind.
“When we came up with this idea that it was time to become a platform brand, the other piece of it was that we want categories where we felt that the franchisee was similar to our Blo franchisees,” Yakobson said.
The investment required to open a Blo franchise ranges from $287,731 to $377,268. For LashKind, the investment ranges from $209,280 to $299,750.
LashKind’s average unit volume is $269,857. Blo’s average unit sales are $372,133.
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LashKind franchisees need a passion for customer service and entrepreneurship. But what makes Blo and LashKind’s operators stand out is their excitement for “bringing joy to the world,” Yakobson said. “We want franchisees who feel really motivated by that.”
Going forward, Blo is working on rebranding the existing LashBar studios and growing the blow dry bar brand beyond its 120 locations.