New Salon

[Brian Oshman]

It was sold after I have been there.

[FIT]

My wife actually worked there part time for the old owner. The current owner was also an employee. She worked at night (when I typically tanned) and I stopped using cash because she never recorded my visit. My wife worked in the morning and never saw my name on the register the next day. I liked the former owner and hated to see it so I would use my credit card to make sure he got the money instead of his employee. Guess that's where she got the money to buy the salon.

LMAO! She put in a computer system as soon as she opened. She certainly knew what to watch out for! It's been about 3 years and the salon is very dirty and beds look very old. Don't think she changes the bulbs very often cause her old customers - my new ones even complain about the Gen-X I kinda liked that bed when I tanned there.

Point to be made is you can learn alot from a dummy! Sometimes a bad example can be as helpful as a good one.

By the way Brian, reading your posts was monumental as I built my salon. Thank you for the help directly and indirectly. I even learned to type in "Paragraphs Dude!" LOL

[Brian Oshman]

By the way Brian, reading your posts was monumental as I built my salon. Thank you for the help directly and indirectly.

You're welcome.

I know I gave you some $h!t in the beginning but you are on the right track and I know you will be sucsessful.

Your posts are right on too with what you have learned so far. You offer good advice from a newbie to other newbies.

[Stephen Underhill]

Originally Posted by megan

Ok I am opening a new salon. Tanning & Boutique. It's my first one and although I have done a lot of research, I am still new at it. One thing I have to my advantage is that my husband is a builder/developer and he is the one building it and the owner of the shopping center where the salon is going. So my rent is cheap for 1600 sq. ft. We live in a small suburb that is about 15 minutes to town. In the nearby town there are plenty of tanning salons but in our small community there aren't any. Within a 6 mile radius there are 28,000 people and 92% of that population is white. I know 28,000 isn't a whole lot but within 6 miles it is and there is no competition at all out here. There is one road going through here and there is nothing here. I know people would also drive from town out here if they liked it. I am doing a small boutique in the front of the store and 8 beds starting out plus spray and room to add additional beds if needed. We are paying a little less rent than most people would since it is our own building plus we already have 3 phases put in. We will not have a credit line to pay because we are trying to do the build out ourself. But we are leasing our equipment for 3 years. I am going with a very elegant, modern, posh, upscale salon. We have went over some numbers and went with expecting the lowest income and the highest that our monthly bills could be just to make sure we could float it. Since this is my first salon I need all the help and advice I can get. I would appreciate some input from experienced salon owners. Thanks a lot!

There is no way for anyone on this site or any other site to be able to tell you which equipment is best. I can only say this. Evaluate the equipment based on performance and features that translate down to the tanner. Pick a company with great customer service and most important, get the proper mix for your area and marketing program. The wrong mix will hurt you more than the wrong brand. As a distributor I chose the line I handle the same way a salon owner should. Get the equipment that best satisfies your needs. Know exactly what your needs are.

[megan]

Well I will be the only salon within 5 miles so there isn't a whole lot of competition where I am. But you drive to town and there is. My nearest competition, which is actually where I tan at, uses Future Industries. They are using the same beds as I will have except they have the Sunstorms and I am getting the icons instead. Plus my Sungate will be the newer model and I am going with the new future hp as well. I feel since they are my competition, my beds need to be as good or better. But I am also very pleased with the customer service and the equipment. I am a tanner myself and have tanned in tons of different beds and I really do love these beds. The beds for my salon will have to be something that I would like or I can't expect customers to like them. I feel as though I go with cheaper beds like my former, then everyone will make the extra trip to town to tan in better beds. And I probably would too lol.