With all due respect to Tomorrow Sun, because I think she is a GOOD operator and DOES know how to sell HP!
That said - it doesn't NECESSARILY work in every market.
The markets Tomorrow Sun has described are not 'typical' of many.
Her main salon is in a market that is smaller and has less
income than what "on paper" should work. However, it is also older (HP is an easier sell to older than college age for a lot of reasons). And not sure what the "saturation" is like - may be lower than many salons see in the States. Also - in Canada. Not a lot of "great weather" months there!
Bottom line is - 2 salons are open 7 months or less, so can't say three are "thriving" yet. One DEFINITELY is - $295K on 8 beds in that small of a community is great! The others may show the same things over time. And if they do, you can bet that HP will be a lot of the reason why, because it holds such high price points.
If you can buy HP for $4K -- ABSOLUTELY - you can make it "work". That's easy.
Can everyone make it work for $35-50K? No.
Do I think it is a STRONG addition to MOST salon mixes - yep.
Do I know salons where it has NOT worked as well as others - sure.
As for the "best" -- same answer as above. It depends. If you can get away with putting in a 10 year old mattress tanner that you can pick up cheap -- do that!! If you HAVE to have ALL the latest/greatest to be competitive -- I'd look to Iso Italia, Sportarredo, Sun Italia, Tan America, Ergoline. Others would throw some others in that mix too probably.