The Regis Story
What began as one hair salon over 88 years ago has grown into a multibillion-dollar corporation committed to making people look and feel beautiful.
In 1922, Paul and Florence Kunin opened Kunin Beauty Salon, which quickly expanded into a chain of value-priced salons located in department stores. Their son Myron bought the chain in 1958 and changed the company name to Regis. Myron saw the retail trend move toward the convenience of mall shopping and began to move the salons out of department stores to freestanding operations in enclosed shopping malls.With the acquisition of Supercuts in 1996, Regis Corporation expanded into strip centers and street locations, and also became a major force in franchising.
During the next few years, there were numerous acquisitions as the company continued to expand in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.In 2002, Regis entered continental Europe with the acquisition of Vidal Sassoon, Jean Louis David and Saínt Algue, the most well-known salon brands in Europe.
Then, in 2005, the company acquired Hair Club, the leader in hair loss solutions. It also expanded its beauty school division through acquisition to include 49 schools, making it the largest beauty school network in North America.
In 2007, in order to further facilitate the growth of the beauty school business, the company merged its accredited cosmetology schools with Empire Education Group, Inc., creating the largest beauty school operator in North America. Regis maintains a 55% ownership interest in the combined company.
In 2008, Regis merged its continental European franchise salon operations with the Franck Provost Salon Group, resulting in a 30% ownership interest in the largest hair salon company in Europe.
Today, Regis Corporation is a multibillion-dollar enterprise and the global leader in beauty salons, hair restoration and cosmetology education. The Company owns, franchises or holds ownership interests in 12,700 worldwide locations. Regis' corporate and franchised locations operate under such concepts such as Supercuts, Sassoon Salon, Regis Salons, MasterCuts, SmartStyle, Cost Cutters, Cool Cuts 4 Kids and Hair Club for Men and Women. In addition, Regis maintains an ownership interest in Provalliance, which operates salons primarily in Europe, under the brands of Jean Louis David, Franck Provost and Saint Algue. Regis also maintains ownership interests in Empire Education Group, Inc. in the U.S. and the MY Style concepts in Japan. System-wide, these and other concepts are located in the U.S. and in over 30 other countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Regis Corporation is now ranked #712 on the Fortune 1000 list, with revenue of $2.4 billion in fiscal 2010.