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Monday, October 23, 2006
Want more no-tipping service?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I wanted to do something different with my curly locks. To get the new hairdo I envisioned I decided that I’d have to explore upscale beauty salons.
I figured that trendy, exclusive Buckhead would be a smart place to start.
So recently I searched on Google using the words “Buckhead beauty salons.” To my amazement, the first search result said: “A Buckhead Beauty and Hair Salon in Gwinnett.”
It’s called Salon Greco.
And to my delight it was right in my Duluth neighborhood near Gwinnett Place Mall.
I made an appointment and was told that Salon Greco is a “no-tipping” salon. I’d never heard of a salon where tipping was taboo.
The hair and nail services that I received at the salon exceeded my expectations. (In my current AJC photo I’m sporting a Salon Greco haircut that a stylist named Andi gave me. It’s a more conservative cut than the one I originally got.)
In place of a tip, I was asked to refer others to the shop if I was satisfied with my service.
I decided to ask owners and sisters Cathie Politis Kobsa,45, and Olga Politis Barton,42, about their shop’s no-tipping policy.
The sisters came from Athens, Greece to New Jersey with their parents in 1976. Like their parents before them, the Politis sisters became entrepreneurs. Their parents taught them to value hard work, respect, and integrity in every aspect of their lives.
Cathie moved to Loganville in 1986 and her sister Olga followed in 1992. Both sisters worked for a while at separate upscale Buckhead salons.
Tiring of the commute to Buckhead and knowing that many of their customers were traveling from Gwinnett to Buckhead for salon services, the sisters saw a need for a chic salon in Gwinnett. In December 1996 Salon Greco opened.
Salon Greco has always been a no-tipping salon. My research tells me that it’s the only no-tipping salon in Georgia and one of about a dozen no-tipping salons in the United States.
“We have trained our stylists to be top professionals, not waitresses,” Cathie Politis Kobsa explained.
They compensate their employees accordingly.
Full-time stylists at Salon Greco average $700-$1000 weekly and part-timers earn an average of $22.50 an hour. (I can attest to the fact that prices are very fair considering the no-tipping policy and the good wages salon employees are paid.)
The no-tipping policy eliminates the friction of competition for customers among stylists that other salons endure.
It also helps to ensure that all income earned by the salon and its stylists is properly accounted for and taxed.
The salon, which has won countless awards, is moving to larger and even more elegant location in Suwanee next month.
Eight thousand customers are registered in their database with more than half currently active. Customers come from all over the world - some even as far away as Australia.
You can visit Salon Greco online.
Is this the first time that you have heard of a no-tipping beauty salon?
Should other establishments adopt this policy?
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