FX Studios is located in a nondescript Hunt Valley business park, just a few blocks off York Road. It's only when you walk through the deeply tinted glass doors into the semidarkness of the reception area of a cavernous, 11,000-square-foot facility with 14-foot ceilings that things begin to feel a bit out of the ordinary.
Standing behind slender podiums, waiting to welcome guests _ which is what FX staffers prefer to call customers _ and take reservations are three receptionists in matching black slacks and polo shirts adorned with the FX logo. Each guest is given a remote pager, then is quietly ushered to one of several waiting areas.
Guests can choose to sit in any of several well-appointed lounges equipped with comfortable chairs and sofas, digital TVs and both wireless and wired Internet hookups. Those who prefer the big-screen experience can relax in one of three spacious, digital cinemas.
There, they can sip a complimentary beer, coffee, tea, soda, sparkling water or wine while reclining in a ridiculously large leather recliner and take in a movie or watch cable TV on a state-of-the-art, 16-foot digital screen with "ultra high-fidelity" surround sound.
"These are the same digital systems that are used in Hollywood studio screening rooms," FX Studios founder and president David Behan explained as he led a visitor on a recent tour.
FX Studios, with all its digital and electronic bells and whistles _ the four digital cinemas, 31 LCD screens, 132 speakers and the seven servers and 22 miles of cable it takes to run them _ is more than just a futuristic version of your local multiscreen mall cinema.
It's first and foremost a full-service men's and women's hair, skin and body-care salon.
The million dollars' worth of techno-gear is merely there to transform the monthly ritual of getting your hair cut from an exercise in drudgery to an unforgettable experience.
"The idea for this started brewing about seven years ago," said Behan, 36, who is also president of Dunleary Inc., a Towson-based, $37 million-a-year chemical distribution company founded by his father, who is also a partner in FX Studios.
The concept is taking the local corner barbershop and making it more upscale and high-tech.
"The whole idea is really just to have a place for people to come and relax and have a good experience that will make them look forward to their next haircut," said Behan, who grew up in Harford County, earned a master's degree at Loyola and lives in Monkton with his wife and two children.
Hidden away in the spacious, soothingly quiet labyrinth of darkened corridors at FX Studios are 19 individual hair "studios," where you can sit in secluded splendor in a specially designed, ergonomically correct chair with a prime view of one of the big screens.
You can watch a movie while you are having your hair or beard trimmed, straightened, curled, shampooed or colored, or while undergoing a more involved procedure like a scalp massage. There are also 11 individual "aesthetic wellness" centers, where you can go for a body or facial massage and other sorts of therapeutic makeovers, including yoga sessions.
Additionally, several cubicles are designed for advanced hand, foot, nail and cuticle treatments, including trimming and polishing, skin exfoliation and foot massages. There's also a shoeshine station.
While you are getting your makeover, "floating hostesses" check in from time to time to see if you need your beer, wine or sparkling water freshened.
FX Studios is the fulfillment of a highly calculated, seven-figure gamble that a sufficient number of people will pay $25 and up to get their hair trimmed or their nails manicured in this exotically futuristic setting.
"After seeing home theater technology evolve, I thought there must be a better way of providing what really is a life necessity: a haircut," Behan said.
"This is well over a $1 million investment _ I'll leave it at that," he added.
Behan called the place a "nightmare" and a "full-fledged challenge" to build but also loads of fun.
"There's nothing else like this in the country, which is a good thing and a bad thing, I guess," he said.
While FX Studios is a long way from breaking even, according to Behan, it did beat its first month's sales forecast.
Behan recalled that he and George Welsh, 40, the vice president of management at FX, who is also a partner in the company, sketched out the initial design for their salon on a cocktail napkin.
They began construction in December and finished in time for a "soft opening" in June.
"We probably could have done it for half the money, in half the time," said Welsh, a Pennsylvania native and Towson resident with an advanced degree in mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park. "But it would have been only half as good."
Getting the works, or even the basics, at FX Studios is not cheap, compared with getting a quick trim at the corner barber or doing it yourself with a soup bowl and a pair of dog shears.
Beyond the basic $25 trim, a French pedicure, for example, is $44, while body hair removal runs $50 and up, according to the FX Studios Web site, www.fxstudios.com.
But Behan insists FX "was not built to be a high-end shop for lawyers and professionals."
"Certainly, we have lawyers and doctors and very wealthy entrepreneurs, but we also have retirees, students, plumbers, housewives, working moms _ people from 13 years old to 70," he said.
While FX Studios was designed for men, women have been showing up in increasing numbers.
Only recently has Behan started advertising extensively, preferring to get his staff up and running and working out all the electronic glitches.
He laughs when recalling how he recently ran into someone at the Turf Valley Inn who told him he'd heard about FX Studios but thought the place was "a myth."
"I told him, 'No, we really exist,'" Behan said with a grin. "The reality is that I'm just an entrepreneurial startup out here in the middle of nowhere."
