in the 1930s
Merle Norman, with her education in
chemistry, started making makeshift cosmetic products in her home kitchen to sell to her neighbors while her nephew,
J.B. Nethercutt, worked as the delivery
peddler. Growing in local popularity, in 1931, she opened her first official cosmetics studio in
Santa Monica for $150 during the
Great Depression. By 1934, the company had expanded to dozens of independently owned studios across the
contiguous United States which were predominately owned by women. In 1936, the company moved to its headquarters to the
Merle Norman Building on Main Street. By the 1940s the company expanded overseas to
Asia, marketing in
Thailand. During the American involvement in
World War II, the company produced gun oil and
camouflage. In 1963, Norman stepped down as chairman and passed down the company to J.B. Nethercutt. The company sold 400,000 shares at $25. The company opened secondary factory in
Sylmar, Los Angeles in 1971, and a forward distribution center in
Memphis, Tennessee for its East Coast studios in 1973. In 1974, the family bought back all the public stock due to a lack of demanded trading interest, and the company reverted to being privately held. In the 1980s, Merle Norman was named one of the ten largest American cosmetic companies by
People magazine. The company started its first national advertising campaign, having previously only used
word-of-mouth marketing regionally, including being the primary sponsor of the 1981
Met Gala. In 2004, Nethercutt passed the company down to his son,
Jack Nethercutt II. In 2007, the company was ranked No. 21 in
Entrepreneur magazine's
Franchise 500. Merle Norman expanded to the
Middle East by 2011. Later in the year, the company unveiled a new separate logo emblem with an updated
wordmark along with a redesign of product packaging. From 2012 to 2019, the company had a decline of 269 studio units. In 2018, the company announced its beginning of
day spa services to select studio outlets in the United States and
Canada. In 2019, Merle Norman's products were available for purchase online through
e-commerce. The company produced
WHO hand sanitizer during the
COVID-19 pandemic. == Operations ==