Bikini Cuts still plans to open in Utah County

ALAN CHOATE - Daily Herald
It's been talked about, worried about and remonstrated against for several months now, but Bikini Cuts -- a business featuring women in beachwear giving haircuts -- still hasn't opened its promised Utah County location.

Owner Mike Fuller said Wednesday that he still plans to do so, and that in the next two or three weeks he will "start jumping right back into it again."

"I haven't really had the time to spend the energy on it, to be honest," he said, because of some separate consulting responsibilities. "I know that I'll have a little bit more time toward the end of this month."

He said he doesn't have a specific time or location for the opening of a new store, adding that the plan is to open new salons simultaneously in the Provo area and downtown Salt Lake City.

In Utah County, he said he found a couple of good retail locations and a couple of existing salons that expressed interest in having Bikini Cuts take over.

Fuller said he also recently scouted several possible locations for a Las Vegas expansion, including The Palms and the Hard Rock Cafe.

Bikini Cuts currently has salons in Sandy and West Jordan and features female stylists who wear a bikini top and shorts or a sarong.

The business tends to generate controversy wherever it opens. At least one Provo Municipal Council member has expressed opposition to a local location. Still, Fuller said Wednesday, "We won't get any opposition from the actual city. They can't keep us out if we follow the laws.

"I know there will be controversy, and I hope there is, because controversy is great for business -- at least this business."

Even so, Fuller has said several times his business only earns a PG rating.

Provo city leaders examined and adjusted sexually oriented business laws last year, but that was because it needed to be done, not out of fear of a particular business, said Councilwoman Midge Johnson.

"If they choose to locate in Provo, so be it," she said. "They just have to abide by the rules.

"Cities can't keep businesses out of their city. All they do is manage the negative effects of it."

While Johnson said she's not sure Bikini Cuts is "a good fit" for Utah County, she also said she could be wrong about it -- and that the business probably benefits too much from hype.

"I don't think it needs to be as big a deal as some would make it out," she said. "That probably just feeds their ego."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B10.

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