Julien Farel Opens Palm Beach Salon
Julien Farel is taking his hair experience down South.
The hairstylist, also known for his eponymous prestige hair care brand, is opening a new salon in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 12. The space will consist of 14 chairs and is nearly 3,000 square feet.
More from WWD
Though it’s a new territory for Farel, he said the move has been in the works for a while. “We’ve been looking to Florida for quite some time, even pre-COVID[-19],” Farel told WWD. “I was coming back all the time to my clients, and in the meantime, I was looking for spaces.”
Replicating the experience of his New York salons has required the most legwork. “I have to retrain everyone in the Farel protocol. It has to be identical to the New York experience,” he said. “We have been working so hard to get people to feel like it’s a home away from home.”
Farel’s business is firing off on all cylinders. Not only has salon traffic exceeded pre-pandemic levels, he’s also refocusing on new product launches. “We are now only working on products that are clinically proven to improve hair health,” he said. “Now we actually have to do something different… my next phase is going to be working on finding a distribution partner.”
Hair products are still the fastest-growing category in prestige beauty. According to data from the NPD Group, it grew 24 percent in the second quarter, and boasted consumer retention rates of 96 percent.