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JCPenney bets on beauty to draw customers Hair stylist Lateasha adds color to the hair of her client Bonnie, neither of whom wanted their last names used, in the In Style hair studio inside JCPenney at Rogue Valley Mall Friday morning. [Mail Tribune / Andy Atkinson.] Friday Feb 16, 2018 at 4:39 PM Feb 16, 2018 at 4:42 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness Stung by the rise of online competition and decline of profits, bricks-and-mortar retailers have grappled to respond. In JCPenney's case, enhanced beauty solutions are one answer. JCPenney announced this week it plans to hire 6,500 additional stylists at its 750 salons across the U.S., including 115 in Oregon. Combining The Salon by InStyle branding with Sephora makeup and beauty accessories, the Dallas-based retailer adopted a strategy to increase foot traffic, attract new clients and ward off digital competitors. "The focus of JCPenney strategy going into the future is that you can't get your hair done online," said Joe McGrew, general manager of JCPenney's Rogue Valley Mall store. "You can buy your clothes online, and you can buy cosmetics online, but most people want to touch it and try it out. So we've created that environment so you can get it all done at the same time. It's a hands-on industry that predominantly caters to ladies. It's efficient and it's fun." Sephora was primarily the domain of JCPenney's major market stores until recently. It's been part of the Medford store since the middle of 2016. The salon has been part of JCPenny's operations since the mall opened in 1986. "There are customers that still don't know we have Sephora, but we also have Sephora customers that don't know we have a salon because it's created new customers," McGrew said. "Now we're trying to get them incorporated into the whole piece, into the whole environment we've created for them." McGrew said the retailer is seeking stylists who might not have wanted to work for a corporation in the past. "We've created an environment where they could have a little more stability," McGrew said. "We would like to attract the master stylist with 100 clients. If I bring in six more people, with a book of $50,000 (annually), that's $300,000 that's been transitioned. More important than that, that's another 600 people coming through the store." Hair customers tend to return in three- to six-week intervals, said Salon InStyle Manager Robin Moore. "There are some people who want a cut 'as cheap as I can, I don't care who does it, I want in and I want out, when I want it,' " McGrew said. "There are other people who want a nice cut, 'but I really don't want this,' and then there are other people who want 'someone to know my hair, that learn my hair and make it look good all the time.' That's every salon's expectations, that people want to make an appointment with you all the time." Moore said several of her 17 current stylists have been with JCPenney for more than 20 years, while others are newcomers. "We have a whole array of skill sets," Moore said, adding that training is provided for her staff. "Stylists do have to pay for training in the outside world," she said. "JCPenney realized the stylist wanted more training and wanted to be on point with trends." Stylists in other private salons generally rent space, share expenses and pay for products. And they don't typically have benefits or retirement accounts. The selling point, McGrew said, is that InStyle hair dressers working at JCPenney retain up to 75 percent of what they bring in, along with being offered health insurance, 401(k) accounts, vacation time and employee discounts. "If they do hair for $100, after paying products, rent, all that kind of stuff, they might be making 60 percent of that," McGrew said. "Here, they get all those perks, they get a manager that runs their business, they don't have to worry about products, or anything but their appointments." The retail industry retooled as Amazon and other online retailers shook the industry. The evolution will continue, McGrew said, as new challenges and trends surface. "Everybody is trying to find a competitive edge," he said. "There are always going to be brick-and-mortar stores. It's just going to look different than it did 20 years ago. You didn't have the ability to click a button and get it then, so retail got overgrown. Now it's right-sizing itself to the new aspect. It's about finding those niches and edges that will make you competitive and keep your customers coming." — Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness or www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31.