Reporter's Notebook

THE BARBERS GROOM FOR FRANCHISING

--Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com

This just in – Don and Alison Lovell, owners of The Barbers, are wrapping up paperwork to begin franchising their Vancouver-based chain of barber shops. As early as September, The Barbers could have new locations in Puyallup, Lacey and Olympia, said Don Lovell.

“No matter how cool (a shop) is, people are only going to come from a mile or two away,” he said. “We realized there were other communities that could potentially support it.”

The Barbers currently has 13 locations in Vancouver, Portland, Clackamas, Beaverton and Hillsboro. The Lovells are also considering opening corporately-owned stores in Spokane and Boise, he said.

Barry and Kim Spiegelberg have run four of the Portland locations under a licensing agreement for about five years. But they’re becoming The Barbers’ first franchisees, which Don Lovell said will make the business relationships more clearly defined.

“It outlines our responsibilities and gives us an on paper working model that we can follow for years,” he said.

The Barbers has just more than 100 employees and has had no layoffs during the recession.

“We’re really lucky,” said Don Lovell. “We can do OK in tough times because we’re at a price point that’s affordable. People will still need a haircut.”