LITTLE LEFT IN PEDI CASH
Nail salon Glosslab falters amid expand bid
Posh nail salon Glosslab — whose investors include former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, ex-Tinder CEO Sean Rad and The Chainsmokers — is closing stores and skipping rent at multiple locations as an aggressive expansion plan has run into trouble, The Post has learned.
Last year, founder Rachel Glass — a former hedge-fund executive who started the chain in 2018, opening two salons in the Flatiron District and West Village — told Fox Business the company had raised “roughly $20 million” and opened 21 locations across Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Washington, DC.
A few months later in May 2023, Glass said in an interview on LinkedIn that she was aiming for 40 salons as she looked to disrupt a niche dominated by mom-andpops. Her membership-based business model and water-free, hygiene-focused treatments have been widely covered in the fashion press, including Elle, InStyle and The Post.
But this week, a scan of the company’s website shows that there are just 14 locations in the New York City metro area, Miami and Dallas, with another six listed as “coming soon.”
Closings
Meanwhile, a retail space at 401 Third Ave. in Manhattan’s upscale Murray Hill neighborhood displayed a public notice from its landlord alleging that Glosslab owes it $146,542 in back rent. The landlord, the Olnick Organization, demanded that Glosslab “surrender” the premises and pay up by March 21.
Glosslab had been working on the space but had never moved in and recently had stopped renovations, according to tenants who live in the residential building above the retail space.
The Olnick Organization didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A few blocks across town at 49-51 W. 23rd St. in the trendy Chelsea neighborhood, another landlord sued Glosslab last month, alleging that it is owed $114,893 for rent and fees since Glass signed a lease for a second floor space on June 29, according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court. Glosslab vacated the premises on Feb. 1, according to the complaint.
In Connecticut, a landlord sued in October to evict Glosslab from the Darien Commons shopping center for failing to pay its rent for several months last year, listing Glass as the tenant, court documents said.
A month later, Glosslab’s Hoboken, NJ, location sent an email to clients saying it was closed “for the foreseeable future,” according to a report by Hoboken Girl.
“As we shift our focus towards franchising, we have decided this is the best course of action for our business,” Glosslab told its Hoboken customers.
Glass confirmed in an email to The Post that the Darien and Murray Hill locations had never opened. Some of the Glosslab locations, meanwhile, are operated by franchisees, including a salon in Closter, NJ, that opened in December, an employee told The Post.
“We are currently moving to a franchise model and working with landlords to that effect,” Glass wrote in an emailed response to an initial question about the 401 Third Ave. location in New York.
Glass didn’t respond to subsequent queries from The Post.