Salon Tour: Aveda Men's Grooming Shop

It’s no secret many male clients are more comfortable in a barbershop setting than in a traditional salon, which is why Aveda has introduced its Aveda Men’s Grooming Shop. The shop MODERN toured in St. Petersburg, Florida, was an expansion to an existing salon space—but separate, with its own entrance. The concept can be utilized as a freestanding destination as well.

The shop offers a space designed exclusively for men’s grooming and maintenance, and it’s infused with the Aveda touch, figuratively and literally. The St. Petersburg location is the first of its kind in North America and was launched by Tom Petrillo, CEO of The Salon People. The space encourages what Petrillo, Aveda VP Global Education Kevin Molin and Aveda artist Kurt Kueffner found men wanted most in a grooming space—community, efficiency and an experience.

“We interviewed 15 men who made more than $1 million a year,” Petrillo says. “None wanted to go to a salon, but they liked the experience.”

Petrillo says that they found traditional cosmetology doesn’t always work in a barbershop; many men expect technical work to be done in 15 minutes or less. Men want a community environment, Petrillo says, and the space caters to that by having a long, raised bench that is just behind the service chairs.

“If you’re going to create community, then the people in the shop need to know each other,” Petrillo says. Which is where the shop’s SalonBiz app comes in.

iPad kiosks at the front and back of the salon allow clients to check in, look at wait time and see which stylists are available. Once checked in, clients can monitor their place in line and receive a text when it’s time for their appointment.

Additionally, skincare is becoming increasingly important to men, according to Kueffner.

“From the very top, we put Aveda’s DNA in what we do,” Kueffner says. “We do a skincare treatment that’s brilliant. Most professional men don’t know how to wash their face. They don’t know how to cleanse, to tone, to moisturize.”

Lastly, stylists at the shop are equipped with scalp cameras that magnify the scalp 2,000 times so they can make service and product prescriptions—whether the scalp is dry, irritated, oily, thinning, normal or some combination of those.

“We saw an opportunity to take a trend that’s happening in the industry and make it more Aveda,” Molin says.

With shops in London, Madrid, Tokyo and Berlin and plans to open 25 in 2017, it’s safe to say men’s grooming is becoming more Aveda in a big way.

Salon stats: Aveda Men's Grooming Shop

St. Petersburg, Florida

Square footage: 650

Stations: Four

Retail & color: Aveda