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BUSINESS
THE CHANDLER ARIZONAN | WWW.CHANDLERNEWS.COM | OCTOBER 31, 2021
Chandler hair salon duo aim to be a cut above BY KEN SAIN Arizonan Staff Writer
T
he key to being a business leader during a pandemic is to put people first. So say two Chandler men who run 41 Sport Clips franchises in three states – Arizona, Oregon and Washington. Val Hill and Jared Lee met during business school at Brigham Young University. They were both working for Intel when they decided in 2005 to put their education to work and start their own business. “Going through the pandemic was certainly a difficult thing,” Lee said. “We didn’t know what the status of our business was going to be. “I would say one of the key aspects that helped us, is that we didn’t lay anyone off,” Hill said. “We continued to pay all of our people, and this was before PPP loan or any of that. We made the determination that our people are our biggest asset and we need to take care of our people.” That meant paying them both their salaries and what they usually received in tips during the time the businesses were shut down, which was six weeks in Arizona and three months in the Pacific Northwest, without some of the help the federal government offered small businesses later. The partners say they were able to do that because of how they managed their business before the pandemic:
Jared Lee, left, and Val Hill, visiting the Sport Clips location on 54th Street in Chandler, own 39 Sport Clips locations in three states, including Arizona and recently won an inhouse award for their work, (David Minton/Staff Photographer) they were conservative and had enough money in reserves to be able to weather rocky times. “I think what that helped us do, is that helped us get us reopen quickly,” Hill said. “Once we were allowed to reopen, … we didn’t have to go try and find people that we laid off.” For those efforts, the two men were named Sport Clips Business Leaders of the Year for 2020. It is the second time they’ve won that award – and they
looked at it as yet another recognition that leaving the corporate world to start their own business was the right call. But choosing which business to go into was not easy. “We looked at Subway, and Quiznos, and other franchises,” Lee said. “We looked at buying some land, and doing development, and building houses. We were generally in the market and looking around.” It was Hill who suggested they look at
Dine-In Cinema that comes with a microbrewery. Schultz says he hopes to have 20 locations open by next year – Chandler is his seventh. “We’re opening one every three weeks,” Schultz said. “It’s keeping me busy.” So why Chandler? “As I look around the country, there’s theaters that really matter, that are a
center point of the community,” Schultz said. “Those are the ones that we’re selecting to stand back up. It was closed and it’s a shame that the community of Chandler doesn’t have a central gathering place that’s a high-quality theater.” The theater, at the corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard, previously housed Flix Brewhouse, which did not survive the pandemic.
Sport Clips. He said the fact that there was nothing else like it – a haircut chain that focused on men - is what appealed to him. He just had to convince his partner. “What’s that, like video things for kids?” Lee recalled saying. He said his initial reaction was two dudes in the haircut business was not the right fit. Hill suggested they go get a haircut at the Gilbert location to check it out. After enjoying that experience, and doing more research, they bought their first three franchises. They also now own that Gilbert location they checked out 16 years ago. For the first five years they poured any money they made back into the business, getting more franchises. That’s how they reached the 41 they operate today. They say the reason they can operate so many locations in three different states is because of the people they hired, and the entrust to run each location. “The key to it all is you have to have good people that you work with,” Lee said. “We have an amazing group of area managers and store managers.” Hill agreed. “We empower our people to … run things,” he said. “The store manager views that store as her store. They’re empowered to hire and fire, spend money to buy what they need. We don’t constrain them much.” Putting their people first has paid off, even during a pandemic.
Downtown cinema owner ‘looks’ to sudsy future BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
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ook Dine-In Cinemas has big plans as the company continues to open theaters across the nation. And the location that owner Brian Schultz opened in downtown Chandler on Oct. 14 is giving him a chance to try something new: This is the first Look
Don’t go looking for any custom-made brews just yet. Look is still in the process of getting the proper license to brew its own suds. Until then, they will offer traditional beer and other alcoholic beverages. “We’ve been talking about doing a lot of custom blends, and we can’t wait to get that back up and started,” Schultz said.
see CINEMA page 21
