Azure White used her skills as a luxury real estate agent to sniff out the best location for the first blow-dry hair salon she planned to open with her two daughters.
It took months to secure the space at 7385 S. Rainbow Blvd. that became their pink salon, the first franchise location of Blo Blow Dry Bar in Nevada. The trio, including White’s daughters, Bailee and Rilee Read, purchased the Las Vegas territory for the franchise and opened their first salon in September, with plans to open two more.
White said they spent $300,000 for the franchise and build-out of the first Blo location. They picked the southwest valley so women living or working in the growing area don’t have to travel to Henderson or Summerlin for a blowout.
But Bailee Read, with a background in marketing and splitting her time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, is using her skills to attract customers to the salon, which faces some competition from other blow-dry bars and salons in the region.
Already looking for locations for the next two salons, White said she’s eyeing the northwest valley as she gets a lot of requests for the Centennial area, with the third likely going in the southeast toward Henderson. She said it takes a year to secure a location.
White looks for two specific things when securing a location: where a blow-dry bar is missing and plenty of parking. She said she looks for an “easy and convenient” location with triple the number of spaces needed for employees and clients.
Blow-dry bars are an evolution in hair salons, and the market is dominated by franchises like Drybar and Blo. No cuts, no colors, only washing, blowouts and styling, the salons are geared toward women on the go, special event prep or those who just want to feel pampered.
“Blowouts have long been an add-on at full-service salons — or even bundled into color services at mid- to high-end locations — but the stand-alone blow-dry bar concept didn’t really take off until around 2010,” said Dana Kreutzer, project manager of beauty and well-being at market research company Kline + Company.
Founded in 2007, Toronto-based Blo Blow Dry Bar now has over 100 locations in North America, with a larger presence on the East Coast. Vanessa Yakobson and a group of investors acquired the brand in 2009 and relaunched it as a franchise. It is considered the original blow-dry bar franchise.
Yakobson said White’s family was chosen to represent the Las Vegas market because of their managerial and marketing skills, “exceptional customer service” and, of course, “their passion for bringing beautiful hair and makeup services to the community.”
Opening new salons could be a good move as the beauty market grew 10 percent year over year, according to a 2026 global report by NielsenIQ. And the global hair and beauty salon market size is expected to grow from $320.5 billion in 2026 to $595.6 billion by 2035, according to Business Research Insights.
But it is not only fun-and-games; blow-dry bars deal with the same issues impacting the broader salon industry, like rising costs and stylist retention, and others more specific to the business model, according to Kline + Company.
“Blow-dry bars also face more specific challenges, like the growing accessibility of advanced at-home styling tools, and a more transactional service model that can limit deeper client relationships and long-term loyalty compared to full-service salons,” Kreutzer said.
Franchise felt
‘tailored’ to them
White, a hairstylist for over 30 years before going into real estate, wanted to open “a warm, cozy, blow-dry bar where we can come and get ready with our girlfriends” in Las Vegas, and she knew she wanted to do that with her daughters.
“It just felt very empowering that a woman-owned business like that, we could bring that to Vegas,” White said. “We knew it was going to be a lot of competition, but it’s OK. There’s a lot of people in Las Vegas.”
Even with other blow-dry bar franchises in existence, the women decided to franchise with Blo because it felt “tailored” to them, with Bailee Read saying from Yakobson down, “it’s a very family environment.”
What sets Blo apart from other franchises is its wide menu, White said. The franchise not only offers the typical wash, blow dry and styling, it also offers hair extension installs and maintenance, makeup services and full salon buyouts.
A typical wash and blowout starts at $59, with add-ons such as braids, products and treatments available. Makeup packages start at $85 for a full face.
But the main thing that sets Blo apart is the hospitality, Bailee Read said.
The owners try their hardest to make every service personal while also tying in the Blo brand, such as a stash of sashes in the back, decorations at each styling station, champagne and music.
“I think a big thing for family-owned businesses is you can kind of feel the personal touch in a lot of different aspects when you walk into them,” Bailee Read said. “That was really intentional for us as well.”
Running a
family business
On the weekends, the salon fills up and it gets loud.
“It gets rowdy in here, gets real loud,” Bailee Read said. “Everybody starts singing.”
But, the fun and light environment doesn’t start with their clients — it starts with their stylists. One of the biggest benefits of working as a family has been the trickle-down effect on their employees, they said.
“I raised the girls to be very strong women and have their own opinions even at a young age,” White said. “So the way that I raise them is how we’re raising our employees, and we give back to them, and we listen to them.”
While they have fun on the job, the trio said there are benefits and drawbacks of working with your family day in and day out.
“You can talk honestly and openly,” Bailee Read said of the upside. “Probably a downside, also, is you can talk honestly and openly.”
Another “trial,” as Bailee Read puts it, is business and family has become one, with the women spending all of their time together. A way to combat arguments and stepping on toes is making sure each has their own speciality within the salon they can focus on.
Currently, the salon has nine stylists, all of which have been there since day one, and hope to add more in the future.
“We take a lot of pride in our stylists, in our culture that we have captivated here,” Rilee Read said. “And I think that bounces back — they take a lot of pride in us.”
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.
