GlossLab offers three types of polish: long-lasting, performance and gel.
For GlossLab Founder Rachel Apfel Glass, manicures used to feel like a chore rather than a treat-yourself occasion. She created GlossLab in 2018 to start a nail salon brand centered around efficiency, sustainability and hygiene.
The company has 20 stores in Texas, Florida, Washington, D.C., and the New York City area. Franchising was always the goal, Glass said. “From when he had one or two locations, I had always designed GlossLab to be a brand and to be this replicable experience,” she said.
Now, the brand has welcomed its first franchisee. European Wax Center Co-founder and Ohm Fitness investor Joshua Coba bought GlossLab’s three existing Florida stores.
“If I find a concept that I believe in, then it’s very easy to put money behind it and get excited about it,” said Coba, who funds his business ventures with his own capital.
Coba has seven more nail salons in the works in southern Florida, which he expects to have open this year.
Rachel Apfel Glass founded GlossLab in 2018.
“The nail space, it’s such a big industry, but there’s really not a leader in the space,” Coba said. “There’s nobody offering a consistent-quality service and experience that can be replicated from location to location.”
Related: Ohm Fitness Quick to Attract Minority Investor, Area Developers
GlossLab has a reoccurring revenue model through its various membership tiers. There’s an unlimited membership, which includes unlimited manicures and pedicures with any type of polish and design, as well as smaller memberships that include any two services or two manicures. GlossLab takes a waterless approach to its pedicures as well.
Coba has also partnered with GlossLab on the corporate level to help expand the brand and its product line nationwide.
Joshua Coba, the co-founder of European Wax Center and current investor in Ohm Fitness, acquired three Florida GlossLab locations.
“I thought this is a great opportunity to help them expand their franchise and avoid all the mistakes I might have made along the way,” he said. “At the same time, it’s an opportunity for me to be. A part of an amazing brand that I think is going to be a national player and leader in the space.”
Coba’s been helping the brand internally to prepare for rapid expansion, using what he learned when growing European Wax Center. “Rachel already had a lot of things in place for her own operating locations, but some of these things need to be tweaked or modified and different systems need to be created for our franchise system,” he said.
While Coba is the brand’s first franchisee, GlossLab is targeting the entire country to grow further. It’s registered for franchising in a significant number of states already.
“I do see GlossLab on many street corners throughout the U.S. and beyond,” Glass said.