New Zealand’s Mane Salon World’s First Hair Salon to Accept Bitcoin

New Zealand’s Mane Salon in Wellington has announced that it is the first hair salon in the world to welcome bitcoin payments. Customers can pay for their hair treatment in bitcoin while looking glamorous.

New Zealand’s Mane Salon

Manager of the New Zealand hair salon, Susan Bouzaid stated:

“As soon as we started offering customers complementary Wi-Fi last year, we saw for ourselves how customers love using their smart devices while in the salon, and one of our customers showed us how she could use her Smartphone to make payments using Bitcoin – we were blown away how easy it was.”

Mane Salon’s owner, Janine Weatherley, contacted her bank asking how she could add bitcoin to her existing account. Weatherley says the bank manager didn’t know what bitcoin was. Afterwards, she got her husband to setup bitcoin for the salon, being that he specializes in IT.

The stylists at the salon have been trained to accept bitcoin. QR code stickers for bitcoin transactions are located on salon mirrors and counters for easy access, encouraging customers to use it.

For security measures, the salon outsources having a third party bitcoin wallet, keeping them away from the salon and point-of-sale PC. Once a payment is received, customers get an email confirming the transaction. The process usually takes a few seconds. Weatherley adds:

“It’s so simple, we hope to be able to reduce our credit card processing fees and our dependence on the bank, as well as well as simplify cash handling. I really hope Bitcoin takes off and our adoption plays a small role in its success.”

She mentions that though bitcoin has been getting negative raves by some, she and her company are right behind bitcoin. The salon’s Facebook page looks “to help other small businesses adopt it for themselves.”

Using bitcoin payment systems save her salon hundreds of dollars a month in bank fees as bitcoin requires little to no fees in dealing transactions.

New Zealand Winery

The New Zealand hair salon isn’t the only bitcoin business flaunting its new business decisions. Breaking new ground for bitcoin is Pyramid Valley Vineyards, who has become the first winery in the world to welcome bitcoin payments. The decision to accept bitcoin was made back in December 2013, and allows for customers all over the world to avoid currency exchange pricing from local to overseas pricing.

Managing director of the winery, Caine Thompson, claims sales were good over the 2013 holiday season, with the help of the bitcoin payment option.

For more bitcoin news, stay tuned to Coinreport.net.

Images via Mane Salon