Step inside this Soho salon and you’ll find it feels more like a creative studio than a traditional hairdresser’s. Its light, open and welcoming environment allows clients to relax into the experience and stylists to focus on delivering exceptional, specialist work. While behind the scenes, Square helps keep it all running seamlessly, with point-of-sale and scheduling software that fits brothers Jack and Ross Williams-Hirst’s innovative co-working model.
The Future of Professional Services
It’s the embodiment of the pair’s vision – a salon that feels personal and comfortable, and invites collaboration. “We couldn’t find what it was that we were looking for,” Ross explains, “so we just felt like it was the right time to do our version.” The result? A co-working space for independent hairdressers who want the freedom to run their own businesses while enjoying the energy of a shared environment. “Think WeWork,” says Jack. “You can run your business within our business and set your own pricing, do your own bookings and see your own clients in a prime location.”
Having breathed new life into a once-abandoned storefront on Wardour Street, their modern salon offers, as Jack says, a “melting pot for creatives”. And with 29 stylists currently working across 18 chairs, these specialists in cutting, extensions and colouring can recommend one another, rather than “creating the competition that might be found in an employed salon”.
But to ensure this unconventional approach was successful, the pair needed an ecosystem that could handle client bookings and stylist chair rentals, as well as the salon’s retail offer. “It all had to be integrated, but there wasn’t anything that we found that just worked for us,” says Jack. That was, until Square proved to be head and shoulders above the rest.
Rethinking what a salon can be
Unlike most salons, where clients book services directly with the business, Williams & Hirst had to accommodate both clients who were booking hair appointments with either Jack, Ross or one of the independent stylists, as well as independent stylists booking chairs by the hour or day to run their own businesses. This meant they needed one booking system that could handle both seamlessly. “Six months before opening, we researched booking systems – [we needed] one that didn’t involve multiple calendars and multiple booking software,” says Jack. “We found that Square was the only one that gave us everything that we needed.”
Other platforms the pair looked at fell short. “What we were looking for didn’t exist,” Jack recalls. “Apart from developing our own software – and I don’t have a quarter of a million to do that – there was nothing else really.” What Jack and Ross needed was a flexible, all-in-one system that could bring everything together. A central calendar was essential to keep bookings organised, and they also wanted payments, retail and appointments to be in one place. Without that, creating user-friendly interactions for both stylists and clients would have been difficult.
A solution built to suit their style
To support this co-working model, and harness the best POS system for their salon, Jack and Ross found Square provided the solution they were searching for. Along with Square Appointments, they were able to design a booking system that worked for everyone. “The calendar is multifunctional for us in the sense that our clients can book, but then we also have chairs numbered one, two, three and so on, which our independents can book,” comments Ross. They agree that this flexibility is one of the reasons why they picked Square. “We love how we can adapt the calendar booking system to our needs… each chair essentially has its own calendar. I can be on my phone and see how busy the day is from anywhere in the world,” adds Jack.
Alongside appointments, Square for Retail means every product they sell is scanned in and ready to go. “Making sure that everything that goes out on our shelves is inputted into Square really helps and saves a lot of time at point of sale,” Ross says. “If something isn’t scanned in, you’re having to keep typing the barcodes all the time.” In addition, Square Register and Square Terminal handle payments, giving clients the convenience of paying with any major card, including Amex, or through Apple Pay and Google Pay. “It just means that we are fully accessible for everyone,” Jack notes.
Meanwhile, the integration with Xero ensures the financial side of the business runs smoothly. “For our accountant, it just means that he hasn’t got to email me or call me when he needs reports. It’s just all done, all sent without me even having to touch anything,” Jack explains.
From checking bookings in the morning to managing inventory during the day, processing payments and reviewing reports in the evening, Square is always on, as Jack acknowledges: “We utilise Square at different points of the day in different ways. And at the end of the day, it’s super easy – there’s no cashing up, it’s all done for you.”
A new model for modern hairdressing
Square is at the heart of how Williams & Hirst operates; its tools have streamlined the way the co-working salon runs and have made Jack and Ross’s entire business model possible. “If we had to use multiple platforms and software on different devices, it just wouldn’t work for us. I can run my business from my phone, and I don’t know many other businesses that can do that as well.”
With Square, the pair can:
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Scale operations without admin headaches: “Having a system like Square just means that it takes away all of that admin,” says Jack. “It just makes life so much easier.”
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Make informed business decisions: Armed with data via the dashboard, they can gain insights and adjust their retail strategy, dropping products that aren’t moving and expanding bestsellers.
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Create a frictionless experience: Both stylists and clients benefit from automated booking confirmations, reminders and easy payments.
More than a place to work or go for a haircut, they’ve successfully built a collaborative hub for stylists and customers, and proved that their vision wasn’t just possible but in demand. “The best part of our day is seeing so many clients leaving the salon so happy [and] seeing all of our independents making lots of money – it’s what we go into business for [to see] people’s businesses flourish,” Jack says.
Ross and Jack have only just begun in building their empire and have some exciting expansion plans in the pipeline. “The future’s big [and we’re] working on what’s next for us,” says Ross. “We would love to have another co-working site in London and then look to start opening up overseas – we’ve got another few tricks up our sleeve that we can’t quite talk about yet.” One thing is for sure: that ambition will be powered by a system that can scale with them. “Square works for us,” Ross concludes. “It’s integrated, it’s seamless and it just allows us to run the business we want to run.”
