Kate Fogarty has FlyDry Blowout Bar locations,
one in Delray Beach (above) and another in Palm
Beach. Libby Volgyes/The Coastal Star
By Jane Smith
When Kate Fogarty moved here from Manhattan, she missed the easiness of finding a blow-dry salon nearby.
“I believe women should be able to get a blow-dry for a reasonable price,” she said. She spent months researching the area and salons and then opened her FlyDry Blowout Bar last year in the Pineapple Grove neighborhood of Delray Beach.
Her 800-square-foot salon recently celebrated its first anniversary. Wary of the competition from six full-service salons on her block, Fogarty doesn’t reveal her salon’s financials or even the amount of rent she pays. She’ll say only they have 3,000 clients and about 700 Facebook friends.
Most of the clients choose the $35 signature service, which includes a shampoo, scalp massage and blow-dry. That takes about 40 minutes, she said.
The first-class service features a blow-dry with makeup for $65, Fogarty said. That’s popular for bachelorette parties where the women come into FlyDry, have their hair and makeup done, and then go out on the town.
To find new clients, she partners with local retailers such as Periwinkle on Atlantic Avenue and mall stores such as Bloomingdale’s. Plus, she drives around town in her FlyDry Fiat to advertise her salon.
Women used to have weekly appointments with a salon to have their hair done — washed, set and dried. FlyDry presents a convenient, modern take on that old-fashioned service. Clients still need their hair stylists for cut and color services, she emphasized.
Her “hair idol” is movie and TV star Jennifer Aniston. When Aniston played Rachel on the popular Friends TV sitcom, her hair caused a stir in the inaugural season of 1994. Many girls and young women asked for “the Rachel” haircut, which featured a bouncy, square layered look.
FlyDry has a clean, modern style with an airline theme. Its services have aeronautical names. Stylists wear only red, white or blue. Silver wall clocks show the time in London, Paris and Delray, and a large wire replica of the Eiffel Tower sits on one table in Delray Beach.
The blow-dry bar expanded into Palm Beach in January, said Fogarty, who lives in Gulf Stream. That shop is about half the size of the Delray location because it is inside the Deborah Koepper Beauty salon.
FlyDry cares about its customers, Fogarty said, allowing clients whose events are later that day to leave in pin curls or others to receive shower caps when it is raining. Ú
FlyDry Blowout Bar, 183 NE Second Ave., Delray Beach; 561-800-2379; or 215 Sunset Ave., Palm Beach; 561-800-3984; www.flydry.net.
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