"We've identified an underserved niche in the market, and we're going to fill it," Gordon B. Logan, president and CEO of Sport Clips Inc., franchisor of the concept, tells GSR. "The hair styling industry has moved toward serving ladies and families more than it used to, and the number of barber shops is down. That leaves men and boys as an underserved demographic."

Slowly but surely the United States is losing its barbers, many of whom aren't replaced as they retire or die, because people now training for hair-care jobs tend to gravitate toward beauty salons. According to a recent report on employment trends by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "slower than average growth is expected in employment of barbers due to a large number of retirements and the relatively small number of cosmetology school graduates opting to obtain barbering licenses."

With the contraction of traditional barbering, Sport Clips is expanding. According to Logan, the company opened 75 new locations nationwide in 2004, bringing its total to 220 in 25 states, and has plans to open 120 this year. Typically, a Sport Clips shop will go into a grocery- or big box-anchored shopping center, though some are in smaller strip centers. "We can be flexible," Logan tells GSR. "We have a wide demographic, men 18-49 across most of the income spectrum, so we have a fair amount of locations to choose from"