FRANCHISE RESALES

A Great Clips hair salon shopfront with large windows, a glass door, and signage above the entrance in a brick building.

Buy a Great Clips Franchise

Great Clips is the largest hair salon brand in North America, offering value-priced, no-appointment haircuts for men, women and kids across more than 190 markets in the US and Canada. Founded in Minneapolis in 1982, the system is 100% franchised: the company operates no corporate salons, a structure it maintains to keep its interests aligned with owners.

The business is walk-in, high-volume and repeat-visit. Customers join the waitlist through Online Check-In on the Great Clips app, and stylists record each customer’s cut preferences in Clip Notes so any team member can repeat it on the next visit. The model is manager-run: a salon manager handles daily operations and leads the stylist team while the franchisee directs the business, and most owners in the system hold multiple salons, many while continuing outside careers.

Great Clips, Inc. remains privately held, with a corporate team of over 250 supporting franchisees. Rob Goggins, a longtime company executive, took over as CEO in 2026 in a planned succession, and the brand’s scale and technology platform continue to set it apart in the haircare category.

Latest Resales

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Why buy a Great Clips Franchise?

Haircuts are a repeat purchase that cannot move online, and Great Clips’ value positioning has held up across economic cycles. The brand depth is unusual: the company reports nearly half of all franchised hair salon units in North America carry the Great Clips name, and national partnerships with the NHL and NCAA keep it visible between visits, while millions of monthly app users feed the repeat-visit cycle.

The ownership model is a second reason to buy a Great Clips franchise. The manager-run structure lets owners build the business without leaving their careers, and the franchisor reports that the average franchisee has historically grown to five or six salons within five years of opening the first. A fully franchised system with no corporate locations also means the franchisor grows only when its owners do.

Great Clips Franchise Costs & Information

Based on 2025 data reported in the 2026 FDD

  • Brand Profile

    • Year Founded

      1982

    • Franchising Since

      1983

    • New Startup Cost

      $187,800 – $419,900

    • Avg. Resale Price

      Contact us for details
    Interior of a modern hair salon with several styling stations, chairs, hair products on shelves, and a reception desk with a digital check-in screen.

  • Franchise Fees

    • Initial franchise Fee

      $20,000

      for new territories

    • Transfer Fee

      $1,500

      per salon (Assignment Fee, CPI-adjustable)

    • Royalty Fee

      6%

      of Gross Sales

    • Marketing Fee

      5%

      of Gross Sales; plus 1–3% local advertising spend

    Modern hair salon with black chairs, semi-private partitions, and wood flooring. Wall at the end displays the phrase “It’s Great to See You” in white letters.

  • Unit Performance

    • Total Units *

      4441

    • New Units Opened *

      110

    • Units Transferred *

      175

    • Avg. Unit revenue *

      $410,783

    * Based on 2025 data reported in the 2026 FDD
    Exterior of a Great Clips hair salon with purple coneflowers in the foreground and a lit "OPEN" sign visible in a window.

Great Clips – Additional  Information

  1. Training & Support

    Franchisee training runs through Great Clips University, an online platform with more than 300 courses spanning salon operations, marketing and technology, and every new franchisee attends a 3-day in-person session at the corporate office in Minneapolis. Ongoing support includes dedicated Operations and Marketing teams, a Recruiting Resources team with a national careers site and cosmetology-school links to help staff salons, plus a POS system, web-based business-intelligence tools and a real-time tablet app. Resale buyers should confirm what Great Clips University access and Minneapolis onboarding apply to an incoming owner and staff.

  2. Ideal Owner

    Great Clips owners are business leaders rather than stylists; no haircare experience is required and franchisees do not cut hair. The model suits executives who can lead through a salon manager: recruiting and retaining stylists, setting culture and using the brand's reporting tools to manage performance. It rewards process-driven operators who follow the system, think in years rather than months and invest in their teams, and many owners keep their day jobs while building toward multi-unit ownership. Buyers who want hands-on control of every detail fit less well than disciplined delegators comfortable managing people and numbers.

  3. Recognition & Awards

    Great Clips has been named the #1 franchise in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 Personal Care category for nine consecutive years through 2026, and ranked #52 on the Franchise Times Top 400 in 2025. National partnerships with the NHL and NCAA keep the brand visible, its Great Deeds program supports community outreach across the US and Canada, and former CEO Steve Hockett chaired the International Franchise Association. For resale buyers, this brand-level recognition should be weighed alongside the specific salon's local reviews and reputation.

  4. Industry / Market

    IBISWorld puts the US hair salon industry at roughly $63 billion in 2026, with steady low-single-digit growth over the past five years. Demand is structurally repeat-cycle: haircuts recur every few weeks, cannot be digitized and are hard to defer for long, and the value segment tends to hold up when household budgets tighten. For resale buyers, the practical point is that revenue is local; a salon's performance depends on site visibility, stylist staffing and repeat-visit rates far more than on swings in national demand.

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