The Great Barber-Chair Coup

With money short and hairstyles increasingly long, many men are taking their time between haircuts. Barbers in some cities report that their business has been clipped by 25% to 50%. But even the barbers' woes seem small when measured against those of the manufacturers of barber chairs. For many years they had a cozy industry; several domestic firms earned a steady profit by selling about 10,000 chairs a year to the U.S.'s 100,000 barbershops. Then in 1957, Osaka's Takara Belmont Co. slipped into the U.S. and began a classic Japanese takeover.

Takara was so adept at copying that it set some kind of Japanese record for chutzpah. Its first models were almost exact duplicates of the chairs produced by the leading U.S. manufacturer, Chicago's Emil J. Paidar Co. In fact, the parts were interchangeable. Thus, if an arm or footrest broke, Takara's distributors in the U.S. simply picked up replacements from Paidar, eliminating the need for expensive shipping or an even costlier service network.

Hair-Curling Recession. Besides selling its chairs for 20% to 30% less than U.S. models, Takara has since introduced the concept of planned obsolescence. It now brings out new models every 18 months. As a result, its chairs are often more advanced than anything that the competition has to offer. The firm's latest model, which sells in the U.S. for $1,000, is the ultimate in tonsorial cosseting. It has a wrap-around contour shape and a hydraulic system that automatically raises the seat and gingerly lowers the back for massage or hot towel treatments; while the occupant's hair is being clipped, an electrical system in the chair gently massages his back and calves. Takara's salesmen boast that their chair is fit for a king. Two users of the chairs are Japan's Emperor Hirohito, who had one installed in his Tokyo palace, and King Bhumibol of Thailand.

Takara has 70% of the U.S. market and worldwide sales of $25 million. Last year it opened an assembly plant in Somerset, N.J., and acquired the barber-chair subsidiary of Koken Companies, Inc. of St. Louis. Today there is only one large U.S.-owned manufacturer left: Paidar. The company once held 70% of the market, but now it is so troubled that President Nixon has ordered that it be given special Government aid.

Power of Prayer. Takara is headed by Hidenobu Yoshikawa, a bouncy 70-year-old who founded the firm 49 years ago. A devout Buddhist, he says that he conceives all of his business ideas, including the one to enter the U.S. market, during his daily prayer periods. Takara's $1,000,000 "Beautilion" at the Osaka World's Fair is a futuristic pile of steel tubing and rounded capsules that reflects Yoshikawa's flamboyant sense of promotion. On one floor, 48 barber chairs shaped like lotus leaves lift visitors nine feet in the air to see a psychedelic display projected on the ceiling; the wailing sound track incorporates the voice of Yoshikawa in prayer.

Though he is almost as bald as a Boy Scout's knee, Yoshikawa never misses his weekly trip to the barber, who trims what tendrils are left and gives him a massage. More weekly haircuts, he asserts, could improve the chances for world peace because "neatness induces a repose in the mind." Unless, of course, one happens to be a Takara competitor.

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