Chaska residents Kenny and Jeni Schultz plan to bring three Phenix Salon Suites locations to the southwest metro.

Phenix Salon Suites was founded in 2007 by beauty expert and lifestyle professional Gina Rivera and now has over 350 locations worldwide.

“It’s a rental concept that offers an opportunity for lifestyle professionals to operate their own business in a private salon,” Jeni Schultz said. “Anybody that works on the body can come in and rent a space. It can be barbers. It can be eyelash tech, a masseuse, nail techs, hair stylists, and even tattoo artists can come in and have a space… anything that has to do with enhancing the body.”

Those who typically rent out spaces are those who are more established at a salon and want to move out into their own business with their clientele, according to Jeni Schultz.

One Phenix Salon Suites building can hold anywhere from 30 to 60 units; single suites are about 110 square feet and doubles are around 250 square feet.

The couple is currently in the “letter of intent stages” in multiple cities looking for exact locations. In addition to looking to build in Eden Prairie, the couple has also looked at Bloomington, Apple Valley and Rosemount.

“There’s a lot of growth in the southwest metro area… it’s still gonna continue a lot of growth, that kind of makes it a prime area,” Kenny Schultz said.

Jeni Schultz pointed out that there also aren’t many multi-unit salon suites in the southwest metro, with transit by way of Southwest Transit in Eden Prairie being a major convenience for stylists from the cities.

The Schultz’s chose to franchise Phenix Salon Suites as a means of building their portfolio. The two bought their first apartment building when they were in their early 20s, about 15 years ago.

“I always knew real estate was a good play and we just kind of worked our way into it,” Kenny Schultz said.

While neither Kenny nor Jeni have experience in the salon world, Phenix was an attractive business endeavor for them as it’s not one large commercial space that they would be renting out but rather lots of smaller spaces within a large space.

“We tried to find a business model that would fit our needs and Phenix fits,” Jeni Schultz said.

No salon experience is necessary for franchising Phenix Salon Suites, those experienced in business are the target franchisees.

According to Jeni Schultz, Rivera is “very hands on with the salons” and will visit and teach classes at the sites.

The Schultz’s also plan to be “very involved” with the business as a whole.

“Both Jeni and I are hands-on managers and entrepreneurs,” Kenny Schultz said.

The first of their three Phenix Salon Suites is anticipated to open in mid-2024.

“The first one will take about a year and then the next ones will be under contract fairly quickly after that,” Kenny Schultz said.