Regis Corp. is closing its distribution center in Chattanooga by the end of the year, emptying one of the largest facilities in the Bonny Oaks Industrial Park that once employed more than 350 workers.
Regis, the largest hair salon chain in the world which operates brands like Supercuts, SmartStyle, Cost Cutters and First Choice Haircutters, is converting all of its company-owned stores to franchised operations and shutting down the company's distribution operations in Chattanooga and Salt Lake City by December.
"With so many states shutting down hair salons last years and the impacts of Covid, Regis had to make a business change," said Tony Donaldson, assistant vice president of logistics for Regis Corp. in Salt Lake City.
But Donaldson, who previously served for 14 years as general manager of the Chattanooga distribution center, said Regis managers "worked really, really hard to get a good company to come in and take care of the associates" after Regis decided to close the center. As a result, the displaced Regis workers in the sprawling 230,000-square-foot warehouse in Chattanooga and another distribution facility Regis operates in Salt Lake City will be offered new jobs with Adorama.com and Scuba.com, which are planning to take over the Regis distribution centers in January.
Adorama Camera Inc. is an e-commerce retailer of cameras, electronics and film equipment while Scuba.com is one of the first and biggest internet-based diver supply companies. Donaldson said he expects the jobs at Adorama and Scuba.com will be comparable, if not higher, in pay and benefits for the warehouse jobs than what Regis provided.
"As far as it goes when a company shuts down a facility, this is about as good as it gets to have another company come in and employ most of the people employed before the sale," Donaldson said. "It took a lot of work by our managers to make this happen and I think it should be very good for Chattanooga."
In its notice of the closing of the Chattanooga distribution center filed last week with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Regis said it will begin laying off the first 31 workers in Chattanooga on Oct. 8. The rapid response team for dislocated workers at the Southeast Tennessee Development District will work to help find other jobs for any displaced Regis workers, but Donaldson said he expects many of the Regis employees will transfer to Adorama or Scuba.com.
Regis served all of its company-owned salons east of the Mississippi from its Chattanooga distribution center, which was built in 1997. The center once served most of the 3,668 corporate-owned stores Regis had at the end of 2019.
Earlier this month, Regis announced it was outsourcing product distribution as it moves to a fully franchised model.
"Our new distributors will deliver competitive pricing, promotional benefits, best-in-class educational assets, and ongoing support to our franchisees to help their businesses grow," Regis CEO Felipe Athayde said in an announcement of the change. "This is an exciting change for all Regis brands and franchisees as we enter a new chapter for merchandising and adjust our infrastructure to conform to an asset-light, fully franchised business model."
The distribution center in Chattanooga is leased to Regis and owned by Nearon Enterprises LLC in Walnut Creek, California. Regis will terminate its lease for the facility at the end of 2021.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.
Photo by Dave Flessner / The Regis distribution center in the Bonny Oaks Industrial Park is closing by the end of the year. But Adorama cameras and Scuba.com plan to replace Regis and use the 230,000-square-foot complex for their own distribution.