A new business in Clovis is giving local beauty professionals the chance to have a working space while still being their own boss.

Beauty Bungalows in Clovis is a salon-suite-style model that provides beauty professionals with private, luxury studios with top-of-the-line fixtures to bring all the freedom and benefits of salon ownership.

For a weekly rent, beauticians can personalize their own salon space to reflect their brand, manage their own schedules with 24/7 studio access, set their own pricing for services and products and keep all the profit — plus enjoy a private setting for the one-one-one experience.

A budding franchise, the Clovis location is the third corporate-owned Beauty Bungalows in California. It opened in the Sierra Pavilion shopping center at 1295 Shaw Ave. in November 2022.

 

Founder Traci Hawkins opened the first Beauty Bungalows in Huntington Beach in 2017. She has more than 20 years of industry experience.

Hawkins said that shared working spaces, such as the salon suites at Beauty Bungalows, are going to continue to trend upwards.

“There are always going to be people that like a salon environment, but there are also people that want to have their own business, and that’s why a lot of people are going to salon suites now,” Hawkins said. “Covid kind of helped us because a lot of people are now realizing that they want a space with just one or two people instead of a full salon.”

It’s not just the younger beauty professionals that are attracted to the salon-suite concept, but also veterans who want to open their own salon but don’t want the responsibility of having employees and overhead.

Suites at the Clovis location range from 115 square feet to 214 square feet, with rent ranging between $295 to $535 dollars per week.

In 2004, after moving to Orange Country from Oakdale, Hawkins was working for a company called T3 Micro, travelling across the U.S. demonstrating hair tools. That’s when she realized the hair industry is something she wanted to be in.

She earned her cosmetology license in 2006 and began her hair journey managing the front desk in a traditional salon and assisting to learn the full aspects of running a salon.

After four years of working in a salon, Hawkins got the opportunity to have her own, opening Porcelain Hair Studio in 2011 in Huntington Beach. It is still open today.

In 2013 she branched out in the industry and opened her own hair extensions line, Porcelain Hair Extensions.

Seeing a need in the industry, Traci wanted to help beauty professionals with their own clientele base to get a private space of their own. The first Beauty Bungalows has 15 suites.

In May 2022, she opened a second location in Huntington Beach. The Clovis location came several months later.

Hawkins said she partnered with the owners of the Sierra Pavilion shopping center with plans to open a number of corporate stores in California. Though Hawkins is still 100% owner of Beauty Bungalows, the owners of the shopping center wanted to branch off and open a few locations with her.

The one in Clovis is the first location opened through the partnership. Additional locations in Los Angeles and Roseville are planned later this year.

Hawkins said that Clovis is booming with salon suites. She wanted to dial up the luxury.

“Ours are more premium,” Hawkins said. “I feel the more established stylists and estheticians and other professionals need somewhere to be that.”

Beauty Bungalows in Clovis currently has 11 tenants, including hair stylists, nail technicians and waxers.

Misty Holder, owner of StylistMis, has rented a suite at Beauty Bungalows. Holder has been doing hair for 20 years. She is a master stylist and curly-hair specialist, which she made a point to study.

Holder said the benefit of Beauty Bungalows compared to a chair in a salon is the freedom to customize services and provide a sense of privacy for clients.

“It offers you a place where you can do your best in your business, customize it to what you need for your life and your family, as well as what your clients need for their life—be that your schedule, the products you use, or just how you operate in general,” Holder said.

 

Suite sharing is also allowed, should two beauty workers want to share the space on odd days.

In the last few years, there has been rising popularity in beauty procedures including plastic surgery, Botox, lip filler injections and body waxing.

According to the Inaugural “American Society of Plastic Surgeons Insights and Trends Report: Cosmetic Surgery 2022,” plastic surgeons have seen an unprecedented demand for cosmetic procedures compared to pre-pandemic levels.

More than 76% of plastic surgeons reported seeing increased demand since the after the onset of Covid-19. The top 5 minimally invasive procedures patients were seeking in 2021-2022 were Botox injections, soft tissue fillers, noninvasive fat reduction, nonsurgical skin tightening and skin care & treatments.

For the Botox industry, Hawkins said nurses will branch off and run their own salon suite, working under a doctor’s license to provide Botox services.

“It’s really booming and there are so many new products out there,” Hawkins said. “I don’t think it’s ever going to slow down.”

Hawkins said there are multitudes of beauty professionals in the area, — hairdressers, barbers, laser hair removal technicians, Botox technicians, nail technicians, permanent make-up artists, body waxers and massage therapists.

Beauty Bungalows also recently opened franchising opportunities, giving entrepreneurs the chance to operate the salon-suite-model style.

The franchise fee is $49,900, with estimated costs ranging from $645,000 to $1.4 million, which includes the fee. This also comes with a 5.5% royalty fee on gross revenue and a 1% yearly marketing fee.