Franchise retailers gain leasable space, enhanced security and access management.

Salons by JC is an inventive franchise beauty salon operating across 120 locations, offering beauty professionals private, well-equipped workspaces for their independent businesses.

According to Mark Dancer, a business innovation researcher and writer, companies should "lean in to help skilled workers thrive."

Salons by JC is this type of forward-thinking company, offering extended business services for beauty stylists like marketing, professional growth opportunities, and networking support to empower these entrepreneurs.

The blueprints for Salons by JC facilities currently in construction across the United States include sliding doors for the salon entry openings. This allows more individual salons to be designed with in 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 accessible 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-PD9S00 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 motordriven 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," John Burgtorf, Franchisor of two Salons by

JC locations in Austin, Texas, says.

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 t rue advantage lies in the app," Eric Martin, Senior Project Manager at

Cook and Boardman, says. "Scheduling access to the building entry and 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 t he door unlocked. They can also be switched to privacy mode to block credentials for a certain amount of t ime. 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.