tanTALK - Tanning Salon Business Owners Community - View Single Post - Adding beds to a small space advice please.

earthangels · 05-27-2014, 07:08 PM

You must do some research before making the decision to open a tanning salon for sure. I went into it knowing that a small town tanning salon would not make me rich. Unfortunately small towns like our are dying. We have a very nice old courthouse in our town square. Since I moved off the square, 16 months ago, we've lost our only woman's clothing/shoe store, Customer Framing and Home Décor, barber, a plumbing business, and hunting/archery store. The we are the largest town in our county with a pop of 4600 and our largest neighbor is 35 miles west or 30 miles north. We had a hair salon who has had two beds for years. Beds are 25+ y/o and you have to stomp on the floor when you're ready for her to turn the bed on. The other competition (now closed) had 1, equally old, bed in a bridal shop basement. They took appointments, only allowed you to tan every 48 hours and closed at 5:30. So after doing some of my own research, I invested in a consultant who has 30 years in the tanning business. This person not only looked at my demographics, but helped me with a selection/level of beds (brand new from Heartland), provided pricelist, negotiated my lease, put together the floor plan and build out. Money well spent. I decided to take a chance because I needed something to supplement my slow season in retail (Jan-Apr) and tanning fit the bill. After my first 6 months I surpassed the number of tanners from my business plan, and to date, have almost doubled that number. My consultant has kept my grounded. When things were going well I wanted to go out and purchase another bed, but he told me to hold tight. Great advice.

After our woman's clothing store closed I had tons of people tell me I should expand into clothes. Really, you didn't shop at #*$*$ so why should I think you'd shop with me. People will drive an hour to Des Moines to clothes shop, but they won't go to Des Moines to tan. This is something that our small town can support. Like I said, I knew I wouldn't get rich doing it, but now that my income has improved, I'm not living on my military retirement.

You can find success in a small town, but my success and your success might look very different.

05-27-2014, 07:08 PM	#20 (permalink)
earthangels Join Date: Sep 20 2012 Location: Osceola, Iowa Posts: 145 Rep Power: 12	Re: Adding beds to a small space advice please. You must do some research before making the decision to open a tanning salon for sure. I went into it knowing that a small town tanning salon would not make me rich. Unfortunately small towns like our are dying. We have a very nice old courthouse in our town square. Since I moved off the square, 16 months ago, we've lost our only woman's clothing/shoe store, Customer Framing and Home Décor, barber, a plumbing business, and hunting/archery store. The we are the largest town in our county with a pop of 4600 and our largest neighbor is 35 miles west or 30 miles north. We had a hair salon who has had two beds for years. Beds are 25+ y/o and you have to stomp on the floor when you're ready for her to turn the bed on. The other competition (now closed) had 1, equally old, bed in a bridal shop basement. They took appointments, only allowed you to tan every 48 hours and closed at 5:30. So after doing some of my own research, I invested in a consultant who has 30 years in the tanning business. This person not only looked at my demographics, but helped me with a selection/level of beds (brand new from Heartland), provided pricelist, negotiated my lease, put together the floor plan and build out. Money well spent. I decided to take a chance because I needed something to supplement my slow season in retail (Jan-Apr) and tanning fit the bill. After my first 6 months I surpassed the number of tanners from my business plan, and to date, have almost doubled that number. My consultant has kept my grounded. When things were going well I wanted to go out and purchase another bed, but he told me to hold tight. Great advice. After our woman's clothing store closed I had tons of people tell me I should expand into clothes. Really, you didn't shop at #$$ so why should I think you'd shop with me. People will drive an hour to Des Moines to clothes shop, but they won't go to Des Moines to tan. This is something that our small town can support. Like I said, I knew I wouldn't get rich doing it, but now that my income has improved, I'm not living on my military retirement. You can find success in a small town, but my success and your success might look very different.