Salons by JC
Franchise retailers gain leasable space, enhanced security and access management.
Salons by JC has more than 100 locations spread throughout the United States. The blueprints for facilities currently in construction across the United States include sliding doors for the salon entry openings. This allows more individual salons to be designed within a facility. In turn, the franchisee is able to attract more beauty stylists or therapists as tenants.
The Challenge
The efficient use of space in commercial projects is critical for enhancing aesthetics, functionality, productivity and notably, cost-effectiveness. Retail spaces in particular require efficient space utilization to maximize return on investment.
An emerging trend in retail environments is the adoption of sliding doors. They have a modern aesthetic and are accessibile for those with disabilities. However, one of the main reasons for their popularity is they allow designers to maximize usable space by reclaiming the clearance required by swing doors.
With many independent businesses operating inside the larger Salons by JC facility, access control with sliding doors becomes an interesting challenge. Franchise owners, beauty stylists, customers, maintenance workers, cleaning crews and many others require access to different parts of the facility at different times.
Salons by JC needed a solution that would provide modern, efficient access control for sliding doors. It would require creating a hierarchy of users and permission levels with remote operating and scheduling capabilities.
The Smart Lock
For their sliding doors, Salons by JC in Houston and Denver chose the INOX ISM-PD9500 smart lock. It is the only brand offering a wireless Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/RFID battery-powered sliding door mortise lock. Together with the ISM-MC7000 smart mortise lock for swing doors and the ISK-B300 narrow stile smart reader-controller, the new facilities are now designed for robust remote security management.
Both the sliding door and swing door mortise locks provide commercial Grade 1 construction with a motor-driven deadbolt. The ISM-PD9500 outside trim includes a round sectional RFID reader, Bluetooth connectivity to a smart app and a touch-to-lock feature. A separate cylinder is provided for a mechanical key override. This lock runs on four AA batteries eliminating the expense and challenge of hardwiring the lock to a power supply.
"We were eager to integrate sliding door designs, but were uncertain about available electronic hardware,” said John Burgtorf, Franchisor of two Salon by JC locations in Houston. “The INOX smart lock solutions provided the answer for sliding doors, swing doors and the access control for the storefront as a one-stop smart solution. Our tenants and their clients can use one app and one fob to access both the common area and their own units. It is an ideal solution for enhanced security and privacy.”
Simple Control
In addition to the hardware considerations, the access control system had to be simple and intuitive at the user level. Salon owners want to spend a minimum amount of time away from client service.
“The true advantage lies in the app,” says Eric Martin, Senior Project Manager at Cook and Boardman. “Scheduling access to the building entry and to their individual salons is effortless. Salon managers can grant one-time access or quickly activate a repeat customer’s credentials. Access can also be scheduled to expire, which saves time and enhances security.”
INOX smart locks support passage mode to keep the door unlocked. They can also be switched to privacy mode to block credentials for a certain amount of time. Authorized users can control the locks remotely from anywhere since the locks are all connected to the cloud through a Wi-Fi gateway.
By incorporating sliding doors into their floorplans, Salons by JC has created efficiencies of space and design. The selection of the INOX smart locks and access control system has enhanced those efficiencies while elevating the aesthetics and simplifying access control.
