Spokane-based Weldon Inc. is looking to trim off a share of the mens haircutting market in the Seattle area.


Just over six months after the company opened its first six shops, all in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene market, it now hopes to open four stores on the West Side by Halloween, says Bill Nordstrom, the former Nordstrom Inc. executive who founded the small salon-for-men chain.


Four stores is just dipping our toe in the water in Seattle, says Nordstrom. Were just trying to get on the map over there, then well look at adding more.


The company hasnt signed any leases for space in the Seattle area yet, but is in negotiations on three potential locations and is optimistic about landing a fourth spot. The company hopes to open the four new barber shops there in September and October.


The Spokane-Coeur dAlene shops each employ between six and eight stylists, and Nordstrom says he expects the Seattle-area outlets to be about the same size. In all, the company currently has about 45 employees here, including the four-person staff at its corporate headquarters, located at 1325 W. First downtown.


While the Seattle-area shops will be roughly the same size as their Spokane-area counterparts, the company likely will charge more for haircuts in Seattle. Nordstrom says the company hasnt received much price resistance in the Spokane market, where it charges $20 to $26 a haircut. That suggests the company could charge more in Seattle, where he says personal services generally are more expensive than they are in the Inland Northwest.


The six stores in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene market are enjoying consistent, steady growth, but Nordstrom says the company isnt profitable yet. He expects it to be making money by fall.


A successful retail concept should be self-supporting within a year, he says.


All of the Weldon Barber shops here opened between mid-September and mid-November last year.


Looking beyond Seattle, Nordstrom says the company hopes to open Weldon Barber shops in Portland, then move into other metropolitan areas throughout the western U.S. Nordstrom says his long-term aspirations are for Weldon Barber to become a Spokane success story with shops throughout the U.S.


While Nordstrom intends to expand the chain quickly, he plans to do so only with corporate-owned stores, rather than through franchise arrangements.


This is a service model weve developed, and its my belief that service models dont franchise very well, Nordstrom says.


To ensure that service is consistent at out-of-town shops, Weldon plans to send its stylists here to new outlets to train staff.


Nordstrom, whose great-grandfather founded the Nordstrom department-store chain, owns Weldon Barber with his wife, Suzette. They moved to Spokane in 2001 after Nordstrom retired from an 18-year career with the department-store chain. His last position with the company was co-president