$1.5m Toni & Guy franchise by year-end

A $1.5 MILLION INVESTMENT by Aston Peter’s Trading Co. Ltd is bringing United Kingdom-based international hairdressing franchise Toni & Guy to Barbados by year-end.Algernon “Aston” Barker, co-founder of Aston Peter’s Trading Co. Ltd, who has been in the hairstyling business here for 16 years, reported that he was elevating his salon Blow 360 to Toni & Guy’s sister salon franchise,Toni & Guy Essensuals London. It is expected to be rolled out at the new Lanterns Mall, Hastings, Christ Church, in December this year.He told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY in a recent interview that a second salon featuring the original Toni & Guy Hairdressing London franchise, catering to a more upmarket clientele, would be located atthe Limegrove Lifestyle Centre currently under construction at Holetown, St James.Meanwhile, Blow 360, which last operated at Skyway Plaza, Christ Church, was scheduled to reopen at Lanterns Mall after Crop-Over, Aston said, adding, “[Toni & Guy] is a brand, it has to be launched exactly the way it is all over the world. We have to put all the staff in place and go through all the system training.”He said he and his unnamed business partner were expending approximately $0.5 million to set up Essensuals Toni & Guy at Lanterns and $0.6 million for Toni& Guy Hairdressing at Limegrove, in additionto funds on legal fees and other costs that amounted to $1.5 million.Toni & Guy, established in London in 1963, now holds franchises in the United States, Germany, Norway, Canada, The Netherlands, Japan, India, Malaysia and Russia, and Aston anticipated the local franchises to employ 15 workers, but he could not say when the Limegrove facility would open.The 41-year-old hairstylist, who received his foundational training at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic and advanced training in England, said, “Barbados is actually becoming the launch pad for Toni &Guy to the rest of the Caribbean, that’s why both brands of the salons will be here.” (SR)