gripmarketing

Take a look at these sobering statistics: In 1980, there was 10 square feet of retailing space per capita in the U.S., in 1990, it was 19 square feet, then in 2000 it had mushroomed to 30 square feet. But disposable income hasn’t tripled since 1980, the population hasn’t tripled, new products haven’t tripled. And in 1980, retail space in an enclosed mall cost $14 to $18 per square foot; today it’s $40 to $60. So think about the yield you have to get out of your store. The formula is really, really tough.

Here’s an immutable law of retail: the more your square footage grows, the more your challenges grow.
For instance, when your square footage reaches the top of its curve, you have more equipment, build-out, inventory, and overhead to deal with, and that’s a big number (read: problem).

And a retail concept has great difficulty growing sales quickly, but if you’re expanding and adding square footage at 30, 40, 50% a year – life gets pretty good - for a while.

With tanning, are you better off to have smaller units spaced 4-5 miles apart (saturation marketing) or a SuperStore concept (category killer marketing) every 15 miles?

Sqewk

How about a smaller units 15miles apart?

Steve Underhill

Tanning salons are not typical to any other retail store. Here are things to consider. The size of store that an area will support is determined by the demographics. After you establish what it will support you have to decide the size you want or can afford to be. The larger you are the more business you will do and the larger radius draw you will have, you will also overcome a major income limitation, tanning capacity or wait time for your tanners. There are lots of different schools of thought. I believe that you should never be larger than 25 to 30 systems. At that point it is time to ad locations. I also believe that in a heavily populated market it is not wise to be smaller than 16 to 20 systems. While in smaller markets a 10 to 12 system salon will work. When you get smaller than a 10 system salon you are putting major limits on your income potential.

Teresa

People tend to tan close to where they work or live. Most people will not travel very far to tan so I would say you would be better off with smaller salons near each other. We have 4 salons and they are each about 3-5 miles from the next, we are also networked so clients can tan at any location. Works for us.

mr belvedere

As in any business, finding good help that is reliable and trustworthy is the greatest challenge. For that reason alone, I for one think that the superstore model is the only way to go in this scenario.

AllBiz

The "sobering" statistics of increased commerical square footage per person has a lot to do with the statistics on the food industry. A recent study shows that 47% of food consumed in the US is at a commercial facility. Just some food for thought.