This Sport Clips press release, posted on PR Newswire and promoted on Twitter and elsewhere, will surely silence all critics who question the viability of the Sport Clips franchise opportunity:

Sport Clips Continues Strong Ranking Among Top Franchises Sports-themed hair-care franchise sees increase in stores and sales

GEORGETOWN, Texas, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ — Sport Clips, the nation’s largest men and boys’ hair-care provider, ranked in the top 100 overall and top 50 in growth for the sixth straight year in the Entrepreneur Magazine “Franchise 500.” The ranking is determined by the company’s financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the system, according to the publication, as well as the number of years a company has been in business and the length of time it’s been franchising. Startup costs, litigation, percentage of terminations, and whether the company provides financing are also considerations.

Sport Clips also ranked in the top 50 of the recent Dun & Bradstreet’s (D&B) AllBusiness.com “2010 AllBusiness AllStars” with editors saying of the company, “…Sport Clips has fared well in the recession,” and “Sport Clips founder Gordon Logan established his business with franchising in mind.” This second annual ranking of the top 300 franchises was developed by AllBusiness.com editors based on franchise unit growth rate, financial strength, system size, years in business, years franchising, availability of financing, and Web (brand) visibility.

“To rank among the top 500 franchises 11 of the 14 years we’ve been franchising is an honor and a testament to those who work hard to make our system a success,” said Founder and CEO Logan. “We have a rock-solid management team in place with 670 stores and another 35 scheduled to open in the first quarter of this year. And, even in a tough economy, our stores open one year or more showed solid same-store sales growth in 2009, another sign of a strong business model.”

Sport Clips was established in 1995 by Logan. The franchise is a sponsor of NASCAR’s Joe Logano and is the “Official Haircutter” of several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Hockey League (NHL). Sport Clips is the “Official Haircutter” of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is the largest contributor to the VFW’s Operation Uplink free call days and offers preferential pricing to veterans.

SOURCE Sport Clips

If Entrepreneur Magazine and AllBusiness AllStars loves Sport Clips, it must be a great opportunity.  Right?

Also read:

SPORT CLIPS Franchisee: Failed Owners Have Themselves to Blame

SPORT CLIPS: A Great Franchise? Read Recent Comments.

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE SPORTS CLIPS FRANCHISE? WHAT DO YOU THINK? LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW?

According to the company, in January, 2009 Sports Clips opened their 600th salon and are reportedly up to 630.  According to Sports Clips founder and CEO Gordon Logan, “Sport Clips opened almost half of all hair care concept franchises in the U.S. last year.”

The comments that we’ve received so far in November have been overwhelmingly negative.  In fact, the single Sports Clips defender’s comment warranted its own post (read SPORTS CLIPS Franchisee: Failed Owners Have Themselves to Blame)  Here are the November, 2009 comments on the original post:

Mon 11/2/2009 10:22 AM  sportsclips is a joke wrote:

Is there anything else we can do as Franchise owners if we band together? Our entire state has suffered from a blatant lack of support and virtually everyone is losing money. Is it true that even if you want to sell Gordon will try to take any money above and beyond your buildout cost, because he claims it was his system that made your business worth more than just the cost of the build out? If so, you will be attached at the hip with this devil for a lifetime. Better to take your loss now and just close up shop 

Could all of the disgruntled owners file a lawsuit against Gordon Logans unethical practices? I can tell you from personal experience that Gordan lied to my face at one of his famous "huddles" and to make matters worse he had one of his henchmen lie our entire state in the form of an email. I would like to go into more detail but do not need additional screw–tany from Gordan and his kind…

Wed 11/4/2009 11:52 AM  Been There Done That wrote:

Attempts have been made to organize an Independent Organization of Franchisees, but there was never any interest.  In fact, the franchisees who tried to get something going were lambasted by others.

Logan doesn’t just try to cap sales at buildoutamount, he has been known to assert that the store is worth no more than asset value in order to block sales and make life difficult for owners trying to get out.

I walked away a pauper, but at least I no longer have to listen to the lies from Logan and Clete Brewer.

Those still in the system should band together. 

Wed 11/4/2009 11:58 AM  Been There Done That wrote:

I attmepted to get a group together to sue, but I was unsuccesful.  Ultimately I shut the store, made a settlement payment to the landlord, and defaulted on my loan.  My financial situation is a disaster, but I stopped the bleeding and got out of this awful system.

Regarding Logan’s lies, the list just keeps growing.  At the last "huddle" that I attended he said from the podium that they don’t make anything on what owners are required to buy.  The required disclosure in the UFOC says otherwise.  Additionally, the costs that they dislose to offset the revenues are obviously inflated.  Logan makes 100′s of thousands every year off what owners have to buy, yet lies about it.

He has no scruples.  "heart of a champion"???  Spare me. 

class action ? wrote:

I have heard through the growing and now very large network of devastated owners that there is a law firm somewhere in Texas that is building a case against these demons.  if that is true then all owners must stand up and be counted and join in.  you have already lost your shirt. at least we must protect the future owners that will loose their retirement / college money for their kids / and their sanity and relationships.  these people know what they are doing and it is wrong 

Wed 11/4/2009 9:04 PM lawsuits wrote:

I have heard a group has banded together.  there is a big named lawfirm involved. apparently….one of the big daddy lawyers from chicago ….his son and daughter in law have lost their ass with sportclips and the lawyer dad is pissed and is going to go full speed at logan and put his sorry bullshit ass out of business. 

Wed 11/4/2009 11:49 PM  me wrote:

I have noticed the other site disappeared, whats with that.Some pressure must have been applied from somewhere, I think wwe all know from where. Whats with legal action. Any one have some info? I would like to join!!

Wed 11/4/2009 10:12 AM do your homework wrote:

for any prospective owners out there. do not do this. you will loose everything. it is a scam and you will loose everything you put in / your sanity / and probably your marriage or relationship. you will be nothing but a patsy helping these scums build a brand and make royalties while you continue to borrow money to hold on.  out of 650 stores i would wager that only 10% of them actually turn a profit and could prove it.  this is wrong …these people need to be stopped.  I am in my 3rd year of ownership and have lost everything. 

Sat 11/7/2009 10:00 AM  Been There Done That wrote:

This group needs to reach out.  There are LOTS of current and former franchisees in most parts of the country that would love the opportunity to watch Logan get that stupid hat handed to him as his only remaining possession.  If those pursuing legal action would reach out, they’d find others willing to join in.

If the oompany went bankrupt, it would be a godsend for those still operating.  Many stores would be at breakeven if they weren’t sending royalties to TX, along with pouring marketing and training dollars down the drain.  It is the rare sports clip franchisee who thinks they get value for any of those weekly debits.

Rumor has it that the latest UFOC even increases some of these fees and adds additonal weekly fees for the computer system.

Logan’s deceit and greed is gonna be his undoing.  Hopefully soon.

Sat 11/7/2009 9:36 PM  Updabutt wrote:

Only a real idiot would invest in this franchise now. In 2003-2005, they were not exposed for the crooks they really are. With all you can find on them now, be smart people, Bernie Madoff is a saint compared to Gordon Logan…

Lawyers and more lawyers. This goon, Gordon Logan is a crook and thief of the highest level. #2 Stooly, Clete is no better.
1. Great concept
2. No way will you make money unless you are already rich and can open 20-30 of them.
3. The fees per week and month make it impossible to make money.
4. Hair stylists that will work in these places are convicts, criminals and drug heads. Do you want your family near this type of people.
5.They do a great job of sucking in the highly successful business people as an investment, bilk them for $500K and then take their location, equipment and give it to one of the chosen ones. Kinda like the hair mafia.
6. Watch their IOC offering. They misspell and put in false names and addresses of those sued or being sued so you cannot speak to these people.
7. Have seen pictures of their new concept in FL where they hire strippers, hold "gentlemen’s parties and hair is becoming the second line of work.

Wed 11/11/2009 3:08 PM  Took It In the Shorts wrote:

It’s difficult to say who is more evil between Logan and Brewer.
1.  Don’t agree that the concept is great. After you dig in, you learn that the cost of entry is too high and limiting the market by eliminating people who pay the most for a haircut leaves lots of money on the table.
2. Success is driving almost entirely by having a great location.
3. Agree that fees were killers.
4. I had some stylists like you describe, but also had lots of good folks.  Finding the good ones was very difficult.  Finding the thieves and druggies was very easy.
5. Hair mafia is a good description for them. Fortunately, once you’re away from them you may be significantly poorer, but you can get away.
6. They also fail to disclose names of former owners in their UFOC.  Could be errors based on the quality of people they have at HQ, as they are mostly incompetent.  They also have most former owners sign gag orders so they can’t talk about what went on.
7. Haven’t seen any pictures, but from what I could tell most of the stores down in Fla were losing money hand over fist.  They need to do something to make money, so strippers makes sense.  Last time I was in Fla, it seems like there was a girlie bar on every corner.  Must keep the old codgers blood pumping.

Fri 11/13/2009 3:41 PM  Fonda Cox wrote:

I worked for Clete Brewer’s sorry ass at another company he ran in the ground.  Don’t believe a word he says.  He is a wolf in sheeps clothing.  He fed us a line of bullshit about how he was going to make us rich.  We worked our fingers to the bone and he is the only one that got rich.  He and his little wifey even had the nerve to have thier 13,000 Square Foot home featured in a magazine after they screwed everyone.  At meeting he would have us pull on a rope and say lets all pull on the rope to make us successful.  Little did we know we were pulling in one direction and he was pulling in another.

According to the Worksforus, “operated PROPERLY, this concept is an easy winner.”  He/She states “Most people that fail need to look in the mirror and stop blaming others for their lack of business success.”

Thu 11/12/2009 11:17 AM  Worksforus wrote:

We are happy with our Sport Clips stores and wish we had gotten into the business sooner. We don’t agree with everything that happens at Corporate but it’s unrealistic to expect otherwise. No one gets along or agrees 100% of the time.

We’ve been involved with different franchises for nearly 30 years and find Sport Clips to be a great business model. We have yet to have a store not make money. Nothing is fool proof but operated PROPERLY, this concept is an easy winner.

Most people that fail need to look in the mirror and stop blaming others for their lack of business success. The tone of some of these commentors gives great insight into why they may have failed.

Of course, the lone positive comment of the month prompted a quick rebuttal.  Sat 11/14/2009 10:23 AM  Doesn’t Work for LOTS of people wrote:

You write: “We have yet to have a store not make money.”

What state are you in?

Have you talked to franchisees in Calif or any of the states in the south, whether it be Louisiana, Georgia, Florida?  The store average for the 140+ states in the southeast is barely $4,000 a week, for both service and retail.  These people are not making money.

You write: “Nothing is fool proof but operated PROPERLY, this concept is an easy winner.”

Are you aware of the corporate store in Jacksonville, Fla?  I have informatrion from a franchisee down there that this store has been opertaing as a corporate store for two years.  Surely SC is operating their own store properly?  After two years that store is averaging $3,300 and 230 customers?  Do you consider that a winner?

You write:  “The tone of some of these commentors gives great insight into why they may have failed.”

I followed the advice of some of these commentors and called lots and lots of former owners.  What I heard makes me think that you have it backwards.  The tone reflects not why they failed, but the fact that they were bullied by the franchisor, that they lost their life savings, and that the system fails many times in spite of how hard they worked.

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE SPORT CLIPS FRANCHISE?  SHARE A COMMENT OR INSIGHT BELOW.