The nearly 1,800-unit haircare franchisor opened eight stores and sold 10 licenses in August as its manager-run model pushes toward net-positive unit growth.
Sport Clips Haircuts opened eight stores in August, its highest single-month total so far in 2026, and signed four new franchisees to 10 additional licenses. The brand runs nearly 1,800 locations and says it is working toward sustained net-positive unit growth after several years spent rebuilding system support.
New stores opened in Texas, Arizona, Washington, Louisiana, Tennessee and Oklahoma, with three of the eight in the Houston area. Signings landed in Florida, Tennessee and Missouri. The company already reported opening more stores in the first part of 2026 than in all of 2025, so August extends a trend rather than marking a one-off spike.
Sport Clips franchisees, which the brand calls Team Leaders, do not cut hair. Licensed stylists serve clients while owners develop store managers, which lets one operator run several locations. The average Team Leader owns 6.5 stores across a base of roughly 260 franchisees, and for years the brand sold only three-unit entry packages, filtering for operators who planned to scale from day one.
Development leaders point to two sources: growing communities without enough coverage, and mature markets where competitor exits or newly available real estate open room for another store. The second source matters most. In a saturated category, the next location often depends on someone else's closure rather than fresh demand.
Net-positive growth means openings outpace closures, and Sport Clips has not published its closure count for the year. A system this size can open dozens of stores and still shrink if older units close faster. Prospective franchisees should ask for the net figure and the Item 20 turnover data before reading monthly opening totals as momentum.
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