Glosslove, a high-end nail salon backed by former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, former Tinder CEO Sean Rudd, and The Chainsmokers, has announced multiple expansion plans after its aggressive expansion plans stalled. The Post has learned that some stores have closed their stores and are withholding rent.
Founder Rachel Glass, a former hedge fund executive who launched the chain in 2018 and opened two salons in the Flatiron District and West Village, took over last year. he told Fox Business. The company has raised “approximately $20 million” and opened 21 locations in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington, DC.
A few months later, in May 2023, Glass said in an interview: linkedin She said she is aiming for 40 salons to break out of the mom-and-pop dominated niche market. Her membership business, her modeling and waterless hygiene-focused treatments have been widely featured in the fashion press, including Elle, InStyle, and The Post.
But a scan of the company’s website this week revealed there are only 14 stores in the New York City metropolitan area, Miami and Dallas, with six more listed as “coming soon.”
Meanwhile, a public notice from the landlord was posted at a retail space at 401 Third Avenue in Manhattan’s upscale Murray Hill neighborhood, claiming Grosslove owed $146,542 in back rent. The landlord, the Ornick Organization, demanded that Grosslove “surrender” the premises and pay by March 21.
A tenant living in the residential building above the retail space said Grosslove had been working on the space, but had not occupied it and recently halted renovations.
The Olnick organization did not respond to requests for comment.
A few blocks across town, at 49-51 West 23rd Street in the trendy Chelsea neighborhood, another landlord last month paid $114,893 in rent and fees since June, when Glass signed a lease for the second-floor space. filed a lawsuit against Grosslove for nonpayment. 29, according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court. Grosslove vacated the premises on February 1, according to the complaint.
In Connecticut, the landlord filed a lawsuit in October seeking to evict Groslove from the Darien Commons shopping center for failing to pay rent for several months last year, and listed Glass as a tenant, according to court documents.
A month later, Glosslab’s Hoboken, N.J., location sent an email to customers saying it would be closed “for the foreseeable future,” according to the report. hoboken girl.
“As we shifted our focus to franchising, we determined this was the best course of action for our business,” Grosslove told the Hoboken customer.
Glass confirmed in an email to the Post that the Darien and Murray Hill stores are not open.
Meanwhile, some Glosslab stores are operated by franchisees, including a salon in Closter, New Jersey, that opened in December, employees told the Post.
“We are currently moving to a franchise model and are working with the landlord to that effect,” Glass wrote in an email response to initial questions about 401 Third Avenue in New York.
Mr. Glass did not respond to subsequent inquiries from the Post.
A real estate executive familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity, said Grosslove appears to have “run out of working capital.”
“Don’t mess with New York landlords,” the real estate executive added. “They’ll take you to court soon.”
Another person familiar with Gloss Lab’s issues said the company is having trouble hiring qualified nail technicians. New York state law requires 250 hours of approved courses and passing both a written and practical exam.
“Some of these locations were scheduled to open, but there were issues with staffing,” the official said.
Last year, Glosslab announced that Joshua Coba, co-founder of European Wax Center, a nearly $1 billion publicly traded company with 1,000 locations, secured franchise rights for Glosslab in South Florida, and Coba announced that Coba would be managing Glosslab nationally. The company announced that it is “overseeing” the development of the franchise.
A spokesperson for European Wax Center said the company is not affiliated with Glosslab.
Glosslab previously advertised that it had “thousands of members,” but customers complained that it was difficult to cancel Glosslab memberships.
The trendy salon offers unlimited manicure and pedicure memberships for about $135 a month.
“At this point, I feel that founding membership is predatory pricing designed to get customers to spend money without getting anything in return for the product,” one customer wrote on the Better Business Bureau website. I am writing.
Glosslab has similarly garnered negative reviews from customers on Yelp, with 97 out of 241 customers giving it one star out of five.
One customer wrote, “They are treated like livestock. They let me in and they take me out in 30 to 45 minutes.”
“I applied the gel three days ago and already three nails are broken and the polish on four nails is peeling off,” said another outraged woman.
Glass, 43, raised more than $3 million in December 2020 from investors including Tinder co-founder Rad and LAB Capital Advisors co-founder MJ Bas.
Five months later, she raised another $7 million from NFL great Mark Sanchez, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin. Alex Paul and Drew Taggart of electronic music duo The Chainsmokers; According to Fox Business.
In addition to Culpo, Glosslab’s other celebrity investors include singer Kiki Palmer and rapper Lil Yachty
“For years, I’ve been talking about reinventing the nail space, and after leaving the hedge fund world, I started researching the industry to get inside the business from all sides, and went to school for nail artists. I also went there,” Glass said. LinkedIn.
“I talked to as many people as I could and spent a lot of time researching the industry in general,” she added.
