ORANGE, CA-Locally based Wellington Franchising Systems looks to be one of the most active tenants on the Southern California retail leasing scene in coming years as it plans a 125-store expansion of the Texas-based Sport Clips chain of men's hair care shops in Southern California. Wellington plans to open the first two Orange County stores in early December and has already signed three other leases for Orange County stores as well as letters of intent for three locations in the Inland Empire.

Greg Fisher, managing member of Wellington Franchising Systems, tells GlobeSt.com that the chain plans to open the stores at the rate of at least 10 to 15 per year. Sport Clips features televisions tuned to sports shows so that customers can watch sports while getting their hair cut, having their neck and shoulder massaged or opting for other services such as shampoo massages and steamed towels.

Fisher says that the chain's first two stores in Orange County are slated to open in December. One will be at the Newland Center at 19710 Beach Blvd. in Huntington Beach, the other at the Woodbury Commons shopping center at 6274 Irvine Blvd. in Irvine.

The Irvine shop will be a training center for the chain's Orange County stores, and one of the letters of intent that Fisher has signed is for a store near the Ontario Mills Mall that will serve as a training center for Sport Clips' Inland Empire shops. Fisher says that Wellington Franchising is looking for locations of 1,000 sf to 1,500 sf and typically signs a five-year lease with one five-year option to renew.

Besides locating the sites for the Sport Clips shops, Wellington Franchising is responsible for recruiting and training new franchisees. The idea behind the 11-year-old chain, which operates shops in 32 states, is to provide what it calls "MVP treatment" for customers. The hair care stores also feature a sports-themed décor including jerseys, pennants, lockers and sports memorabilia for sale.

Fisher has spent 20 years in the retail industry in development, construction, leasing, brokerage and store operations. He says that the founders of Sport Clips saw an opening in the market for a concept that specialized in the hair care needs of men because most of the hair salon industry focuses primarily on women.

Sport Clips, which is based in Georgetown, TX, was founded in 1995 and "is going to finish this year with somewhere north of 400 stores," according to Fisher. The company has waited until now to enter the California market because it "wanted to make sure that it had a strong brand and an infrastructure to support its growth in a market as large and challenging as California," he says. While Fisher's stores will be the first to open in Orange County, one store is open in Sacramento and one in Fresno, with a San Diego shop slated to open this week.

Besides the two stores scheduled to open in December, Fisher's company has signed leases for Orange County shops in Tustin, Cypress and Santa Ana. An area developer has signed for the northern portion of Los Angeles County and the chain is looking for someone to take other parts of L.A. County.

Fisher, who will be choosing the sites for all of the Southern California stores, explains the Sport Clips approach to site selection: "In my experience some franchise organizations allow their franchisees to select their own sites and negotiate their own letters of intent, but we do all the site selection and negotiation," Fisher says. When a deal is done, Sport Clips presents the site to the franchisee and, "If the franchisee says yes, then they sign the lease."

This approach ensures that the sites meet the parent company's criteria, Fisher says. "This way, there's no confusion on our part about where we are going to go, and it gives landlords a high degree of confidence," he adds.