Rowan Hypoallergenic Piercing opens first location in Idaho

Ear piercing has evolved dramatically since those original days of the MTV generation when one’s girlfriend used alcohol, a needle, ice and maybe a potato as a cushion to perform a piercing, as this reporter can attest.

Safety and sterility have now shot to the forefront of this growing industry.

As the nation’s sole ear-piercing outfit backed by a medical board, Rowan, now open in The Village at Meridian, employs only licensed nurses to perform its piercing services.

“We see safety and sterility as the number one reason why people choose where to get a piercing done,” said CEO Louisa Schneider who founded the company five years ago.

“We try and lead with the medical aspect of what we do in all of our marketing, whether digital or through influencers. That is a big part of any of any of our campaigns.”

With a resume that includes stops working in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York City, and as a research analyst at J.P. Morgan, Schneider completed her undergraduate work at Dartmouth University before obtaining an MBA focused on entrepreneurship at Columbia University.

While working at a hedge fund and analyzing shopping malls and real estate, Schneider, then with a new daughter in tow, came across a Claire’s location, the now-former chain of beauty accessories that recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in seven years.

Wanting to pierce her daughter’s ears, but with “nowhere to take her,” Schneider began reflecting on her own experience of having her ears pierced as a child. “It was at that time I realized it was the same place I had gone many years prior for my own ear piercing. But it had not evolved or improved.”

Her entrepreneurial spirit and training soon kicked in and she began to move her professional needle.

“It was an incredible memory from childhood, and I thought if it’s done better and safely you’d have a customer for life,” Schneider said. “That is where the idea came from for Rowan.”

In 2020, Rowan opened its first store in the Upper East Side (UES) of New York City. Today, there are 89 locations nationally in more than 30 states. The Village location is Idaho’s first, and one of five studios to open last month.

“The Boise area market is one we have always been interested in,” she said. “It is such a beautiful, sought after and up-and-coming area. And The Village is viewed as the center there. It’s been on our radar for quite some time, and we love that it is the Gem State.”

Rowan has no current plans for other Idaho locations but is looking to open future shops in both Washington and California. Expectations are to reach 100 studios nationally by the end of the year.

“I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and drive, but I would never have thought it would have grown this much,” said Schneider, who comes from a medical family. Both her parents are doctors, and her sister is an OBGYN.

For Chief Marketing Officer Robin Page, the Rowan standard of promoting safety and sterility clicked perfectly with her childhood experience of having her ears pierced.

“I thought it was a unique business model. As a child I had my ears pierced by a pediatrician,” Page said. “And liked the medical aspect of how Louisa was positioning the company.”

With a background in retail and fashion, Page studied Rowan and was stirred by how “powerfully” the company was “revolutionizing” the industry with its approach to safety.

“We’re the safest option out there from infants to the elderly,” she said. “We follow the Rowan standard of using licensed nurses, hypoallergenic jewelry, the things that make our business so strong.”

Plus, nurses at Rowan use a sterilized needle rather than a traditional ear-piercing gun, another factor that helps set Rowan apart from the competition.

“It is very important to recognize that we do not use an ear-piercing gun,” Page said. “These guns have a spring loaded into it, but we use a hand-pressurized device controlled by a nurse’s hand. And it is using the back of an earring to pierce an ear, which is far more precise.”

Rowan studios typically employ 10 to 15 staff members, depending on the number of part-time nurses, with Schneider calling the strict use of nurses a “successful marriage” within the company’s business model.

“We don’t need a lot of nurses to work at Rowan, just really good ones,” she said. “They may not be trained on how to pierce ears, but we have a training for that. They can be straight out of nursing school, or someone who has worked in a hospital for a long time. We’ve been successful finding great nurses, and oftentimes they’re referred to us by word-of-mouth.”

“From a career perspective for many nurses, it is an appealing career option for someone who may be looking for a career change,” Page said.

The ability to connect with local pediatricians is another unique aspect Rowan capitalizes on as part of its marketing strategy.

“We have found that parents will go into a doctor’s office to ask where to go to get their child’s ears pierced,” Schneider said. “We want these offices to be aware of us, to come check us out so they will give us their stamp of approval.”

“Historically, a lot of pediatricians, when I was a child, did piercings, but not so much anymore,” Page said. “We make connections with these doctors because we want them to know that we can provide a safe, medical procedure for their patients.”

According to various studies, up to 20% of women and girls endure some type of allergy to nickel, an important medical fact and business consideration not lost on Schneider.

“We felt it was our responsibility to remove all of those metal types in our jewelry,” she said. “From the hypoallergenic standpoint, it’s often not the actual ear-piercing experience itself that is the problem, but it’s rather from putting in an earring with an allergy-inducing metal such as nickel or brass, which are in most things.”

According to Schneider, all Rowan products sold are clean sterling silver, typically with 14K or 18K gold over them, or titanium, which is commonly used in all types of surgical implants.
“Our adverse reaction is below 1%, which is quite lower than the industry average of about 30%,” Page said. “We constantly analyze and monitor all the research.”

Rowan’s advisory board, Page added, is comprised of four medical professionals. “They meet regularly to review the processes we use and how we train our staff to pierce. We do a lot of research for adverse reactions.”

An enormous amount of “quantitative” and “qualitative” research is also a sharp point for Rowan when it comes to expansion, Page stressed, with a strong focus centered on potential studio locations, adjacent brands and customer demographics.

“Every so often we post a round-up of all of our new locations and we always solicit customer feedback asking where we should open a new studio. We receive a plethora of responses for where customers are itching for us to go next and the information goes to our expansion team.”

Most importantly, delivering a safe experience and creating a market for repeat customers also helps steer Rowan into new markets.

“We really love when our customers approach us about future locations,” said Schneider.

And sharing information word-of-mouth is a two-way street for establishing new Rowan sites.

“Anytime we enter a market, we reach out to local businesses, PTO organizations, universities, sororities and fraternities or the athletic teams as well as local doctors,” Page said. “Plus, we will pierce from two months and up, and not everyone does that.”

This strict adherence to safety and high medical standards, Page pointed out, has helped Rowan garner “thousands” of five-star Google reviews.

“Rowan is such a great place and they make you feel so comfortable and calm,” wrote Mackenzie B. in a review. “Got a double helix and it was completely pain free and super speedy.”

Nicolette G. also heaped high praise on Rowan regarding her experience. “The best place to take your little ones to get their ears pierced! The nurse was so good with my daughter, and she took the time to explain everything and make sure she was comfortable. I could not have asked for a better experience.”

With a wealth of experience in the financial sector, Schneider knows it is all about safety when it comes to customer service.

“We’re putting our heads down, working hard, and I am honored to be doing what I am doing now and for the work we’re creating,” she said. “I knew when the initial idea was there, there was something really important here. I didn’t realize how big the void was, which is what we’re filling.”