Putting greens, flat screen TVs, shoe shines and cigars.
Sounds like Fletcher Jones Motorcars. But it’s not. It’s Profile Spa and Salon for men, which opened last week at Park Place Plaza in Irvine.
The 4,000-square-foot salon was modeled after an upscale resort, Chief Executive Danny McCallon said.
Men can get a regular haircut for $45. But the salon also offers tanning, manicures and pedicures. For kicks, there are Xbox 360s.
McCallon said he set out to start a salon focused on details.
“I wasn’t getting the attention I wanted,” he said.
McCallon opened the store with his mother, Bonnie McCallon, the operation’s financial chief and majority owner. Mom runs the day-to-day business.
“We’re kind of like yin and yang,” McCallon said.
Men are a small but fast-growing group of spa users, he said. Profile Spa is going after guys with money to spend on pricey pampering.
McCallon, a former dot-com guy, has kept his day job as a technology consultant. He said his business background has come in handy.
“I’m not running this place like a salon,” he said. “I’m running it like a corporate entity.”
Four other salons are in the works, he said.
Profile Spa competes with other salons, such as the smaller Metro for Men in Irvine.
Another salon, Moxie For Men, closed last year when the Laguna Beach hotel it was in bought the store out of its contract.
Ryan Anderson, who owned Moxie, now is making a line of products for men called Moxie, which Profile Spa sells. Anderson also is a former techie.
Kitchen Couture
Luxury kitchen boutique WmOhs has opened in Newport Beach.
WmOhs, named after founder William Ohs, teamed up with German kitcheneer Poggenpohl Inc. to open the store, its fifth in California and first in Orange County.
Laurie Haefele is the lead designer and managing partner for the showroom on Newport Center Drive. WmOhs, founded in 1972, handcrafts cabinetry at its factory in Denver.
Diamond Debut
Tiffany & Co. has opened its diamond salon at South Coast Plaza.
The boutique, next to its original store, sells engagement rings and its other styles.
Auto Show
The California International Auto Show now is the Orange County Auto Show.
The 10th annual show is set for October at the Anaheim Convention Center. Back this year is the Auto Show Underground,an edgier offshoot in a club setting beneath the traditional show that displays customized autos, the ones with the fancy grills, big chrome wheels and wild paint jobs.
The Orange County Auto Show, owned and managed by the Costa Mesa-based Orange County Automobile Dealers Association and the Southland Motor Car Dealers Association, is the first North American show for the 2007 model year.
Opening It Up
Lamborghini owners got a chance to bond recently at the racetrack. They also got to drive really fast. Lamborghini Orange County’s event at the California Speedway in Pomona drew Lamborghini owners, prospective buyers and a few celebs.
Among them: actor Michael Ealy, Orlando Magic player DeShawn Stevenson and Lamborghini factory chief test driver Valentino Balboni, a star in his own right.
“Our customers like to get together and drive faster than usual,” said Sossi Keuylian, who co-owns the Santa Ana dealership with sisters Nora and Astrid and brother Vik.
“Nobody wants to buy a Lamborghini and drive it by themselves,” she said.
Lamborghini Orange County spends about $130,000 to put on the Speedway events. It holds two to four a year. Audi broke out its thoroughbred for the event, the RS4. Germany’s Audi AG owns Italy’s Automobili Lamborghini.
Lamborghini Orange County also hosted about 50 owners at Crystal Cove Promenade’s Mastro’s Ocean Club, a hangout for Lamborghini aficionados.
The Lamborghini dealer soon will have another home on Pacific Coast Highway, near luxury auto row. It expects to open a dealership there next year and keep its current location.
Fletcher vs. Lexus
The battle of upscale Newport Beach dealers is on.
Newport Lexus, which opened a luxurious dealership walking distance from Fletcher Jones Motorcars, has its work cut out.
Fletcher Jones had $529 million in sales last year. Fletcher not only does well in car sales. It is No. 1 in service and body shop business, according to Ward’s Auto’s list of the 500 largest dealers in the nation. The Mercedes-Benz dealer had $36 million in service revenue and $15 million in body shop revenue.
Fletcher is the nation’s No. 2, according to Ward’s Auto, part of Prism Business Media Inc. of Kansas. El Monte’s Longo Toyota is tops.
