Franchise Facts Report → brands → Merle Norman Cosmetics
Merle Norman Cosmetics franchise — is it worth it?
Medium risk Shrinking network
Merle Norman Cosmetics is a beauty and personal care brand with a long history, operating 797 franchised outlets.
Everything below is free, read straight off Merle Norman Cosmetics's registered filing. Weighing Merle Norman Cosmetics against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in Merle Norman Cosmetics's most recent FDD (registered 2026). Source: Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration · filing 641746 — check it yourself. See every other Wisconsin-registered franchise.
Considering Merle Norman Cosmetics? See what else fits your budget
Tell us your budget and the industries you're open to. We'll match you with 5–10 franchises whose own FDDs fit — ranked by earnings disclosure, growth and closure rate — and email you the list. Merle Norman Cosmetics will be on it if it fits.
Merle Norman Cosmetics franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: Merle Norman Cosmetics does not disclose franchise profit or revenue. Its most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for Merle Norman Cosmetics — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (70% of beauty & personal care franchisors in our corpus do disclose); the fees, litigation and outlet churn Merle Norman Cosmetics's FDD does contain are on this page. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Salon, beauty & personal care franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.
Merle Norman Cosmetics lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
Merle Norman Cosmetics's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.
Merle Norman Cosmetics closures & failure rate
Before you sign, Merle Norman Cosmetics will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Merle Norman Cosmetics's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a beauty & personal care of this kind.
The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Merle Norman Cosmetics's latest tables show a shrinking franchised network — more units left than opened. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 0.4%, against a beauty & personal care median of 1.8% — at or better than the category. Net franchised outlets moved -34 to 797 in the latest reported year.
Who owns Merle Norman Cosmetics?
Merle Norman Cosmetics's franchise is offered by Merle Norman Cosmetics, Inc. — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at WI DFI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.
Other beauty & personal care franchises
Anyone weighing Merle Norman Cosmetics is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.
Merle Norman Cosmetics franchise — frequently asked
Who owns Merle Norman Cosmetics — who is the franchisor?
Merle Norman Cosmetics's most recently filed FDD (2026) names Merle Norman Cosmetics, Inc. as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a Merle Norman Cosmetics franchise cost?
Merle Norman Cosmetics's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at a range disclosed in Item 7. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote.
How much profit does a Merle Norman Cosmetics franchise make?
Merle Norman Cosmetics makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for Merle Norman Cosmetics at all — and profit would never be disclosed even where earnings are, because it depends on your rent, labor and how you operate. Any profit figure quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure.
Does Merle Norman Cosmetics disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — Merle Norman Cosmetics's most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation. Its absence is worth weighing: 70% of beauty & personal care franchisors in our corpus do disclose.
Are there lawsuits against Merle Norman Cosmetics?
No — Merle Norman Cosmetics's most recently filed FDD (2026) discloses no litigation in Item 3. Franchisors must disclose material litigation involving themselves, their predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 is a genuine signal rather than an omission.
Is Merle Norman Cosmetics a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from Merle Norman Cosmetics's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against beauty & personal care peers and against your own budget. Our read on this filing is medium risk. Every figure behind that read is on this page for free. If you're comparing options, the free shortlist on this page matches you with 5–10 franchises that fit your budget and industry.
Get a free email when something changes on Merle Norman Cosmetics or beauty & personal care: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same state registries this page is built on.