Mario Tricoci Closes Ohio Day Spas
Chicago salon operator Mario Tricoci is leaving Columbus on Saturday after 10 years at Easton Town Center.
The Columbus Mario Tricoci Salon and Day Spa will close at the end of that day, turning its attention to the company’s salons in its hometown and a single shop in Kansas City, said Chief Operating Officer Larry Silvestri. The company, he said, has found success in keeping the majority of its salons in one city and subsequently getting a better return on marketing – a strategy he dubbed “clustering.” The Columbus market didn’t fit into that approach, Silvestri said.
“We loved the demographic and we loved the community, but we found it difficult to really cluster within that particular market,” he said.
Silvestri also said the company, reaching the end of a five-year lease, couldn’t agree with the open-air shopping complex’s landlord on a base rent. The Easton operation was Tricoci’s lone salon in Ohio.
Silvestri said the salon’s 40 employees are in line for jobs at Columbus-based Charles Penzone Family of Salons, which has nearly 300 employees in its Central Ohio chain. All six of the company’s salons are in the region and are holding places for employees affected by the closure, about four in five of which already are preparing to interview for jobs, Silvestri said.
The partnership with Penzone, which includes the company honoring Tricoci gift cards beginning Monday, springs from a history between the companies’ founders, both members of Intercoiffure America/Canada, an association of salon owners.
The closing ends Tricoci’s tenure in Columbus, but Silvestri said the company won’t rule out another try.
“We might return, but at this time we want to concentrate on Chicago, where there’s a lot of growth,” he said. “It’s more low-hanging fruit for us.”
For many, the new year has taken some expected—and unexpected—turns, challenging most to approach the workday a bit more creatively and to think twice before making any uncalculated decisions.
