tanTALK - View Single Post - Looking into opening a salon would love input.(long)

sunsally · 01-16-2007, 10:01 AM

A couple of thoughts:

1. You say you have been doing "an insane amount of research" and "scouring all the thread here" - but you just joined two days ago and posted this yesterday. Do a LOT more reading than that!! Go back years even - a lot of recent threads can be very "jibberjabberish" chats between friends, so you really have to dig around quite a bit to find threads with "meat".

2. 8 hair salons with 1-2 beds each (and more looking to add them) is quite a few beds already for a population of less than 4,000.

3. Leasing can be a very good option, depending on your rate, your tax benefit needs, etc. If you are leasing them because you don't have enough cash and you are thinking that will be an "easier" way to get open, then you don't have enough capital and you should stop now.

4. Real estate co, mortgage firm, engineering firm etc. all sound like low traffic tenants and ones that you might only go to occasionally. Not great for "drive by" visibility in the right demographics for tanning. Restaurants, cell phone stores, etc makes a LOT more sense -- just based on what little you have told us.

5. Spa beds almost NEVER pay off in a tanning environment. Whether a massage therapist will or not depends on the demand for that in your town.

6. If airbrushing is "huge down here", does this mean there are several already offering that service too? If so, don't know that there is need for another.

7. $15/sq ft is reasonable -- but will be a lot to pay with only 3 units. I pay less than that, have 2x more space, but 5X more units. You will also be paying payroll (even if you are working it, have to put a "value" on your time of what you would make doing another job somewhere else), utilities, advertising, etc et

Overall, from what you have shared as well as the state of the industry, I'd say it probably is NOT a good investment.

01-16-2007, 10:01 AM	#14 (permalink)
sunsally www.highlinecapital.com Join Date: Nov 23 2004 Location: ITA Member & Berman Supporter! Posts: 2,512 Rep Power: 8	Re: Looking into opening a salon would love input.(long) A couple of thoughts: 1. You say you have been doing "an insane amount of research" and "scouring all the thread here" - but you just joined two days ago and posted this yesterday. Do a LOT more reading than that!! Go back years even - a lot of recent threads can be very "jibberjabberish" chats between friends, so you really have to dig around quite a bit to find threads with "meat". 2. 8 hair salons with 1-2 beds each (and more looking to add them) is quite a few beds already for a population of less than 4,000. 3. Leasing can be a very good option, depending on your rate, your tax benefit needs, etc. If you are leasing them because you don't have enough cash and you are thinking that will be an "easier" way to get open, then you don't have enough capital and you should stop now. 4. Real estate co, mortgage firm, engineering firm etc. all sound like low traffic tenants and ones that you might only go to occasionally. Not great for "drive by" visibility in the right demographics for tanning. Restaurants, cell phone stores, etc makes a LOT more sense -- just based on what little you have told us. 5. Spa beds almost NEVER pay off in a tanning environment. Whether a massage therapist will or not depends on the demand for that in your town. 6. If airbrushing is "huge down here", does this mean there are several already offering that service too? If so, don't know that there is need for another. 7. $15/sq ft is reasonable -- but will be a lot to pay with only 3 units. I pay less than that, have 2x more space, but 5X more units. You will also be paying payroll (even if you are working it, have to put a "value" on your time of what you would make doing another job somewhere else), utilities, advertising, etc et Overall, from what you have shared as well as the state of the industry, I'd say it probably is NOT a good investment.