jkonturas

Forget ETS, and forget the franchises.... Pick a good company like Heartland, Tan America, or Ergoline- and they will help you alot more than ETS!!

Neon Beach

You said it jkonturas !!

Steve Underhill

The only reason to buy a tanning franchise is because you want say you own a franchise. There are consultants available that cost you nothing and will give you everything and more than a franchise can and you will end up with a much more successful salon than a franchise. You will get to keep all of your hard earned profits.

ZABAZU

So you've answered your own question here, you can get the equipment cheaper on your own and both of the franchises are full of promises that don't pan out... you've said so yourself, what more (as far as the benefits of franchises) do you need to understand?

Don't be intimidated by pricing when purchasing beds. The listed prices are all negotiable...EVERYTHING is negotiable...A LOT...

You should go to the trade shows where you can see and try all the different equipment. Tan at all your competitors and find out what you like and what works best for you.

Vernon..SC

Thanks everyone. I am planning to attend the trade show in Vegas in June. Until then I'll continue to scan the posts here and do a little tanning at the competition. There are still a couple I need to visit.

top250tansyou

You know what is more dangerous than a franchise? A chain belonging to just one person. That whats Chun has done.

There is going to be more of this type of thing. They can offer a quality bed for a low price. With multiple locations that can run them-selves (you hire people for that) your profit percentage doesnt have to be as high as mom and pop stores. A better product than what you have will be sold for the same you are charging or less. Salons with a pricing structure you cant compete with.

You can compete with franchise because their product sucks. Going against a corporations will be much harder. See ya!

TexasTanz

I may be wrong here, but doesn't going the franchise route allow you to get into the business with much lower costs to you? If someone only has a small (relatively) amount of money then the franchise way may be the only way they can start in theis business, and then move to open their own salon later??

tanu01

Do you really think you can open a franchise cheaper? If you do I don't think your for this industrie at all.
Hollywood Tans will more than likly be the first one to fall.
Flick

engfant

If you are a no personality lazy would rather pay good $$$$ then spend 10min doing some research then yes, a franchise is for you.

Open a salon later? Sure if the contract you sign with the franchise people allows this! A LOT of contracts have a clause that you CANNT OPEN YOUR OWN SALON for X amount of years AFTER selling out or something like that.

TexasTanz

Now, I once asked for help in gathering the costs associated with opening a salon, real numbers....build-out, insurance, inventory, untilities, phone, does the build-out include enough electrical and A/C, etc. Things that I cannot know without actually doing. I cannot know if I have the resources to do unless I get the numbers from someone who has done it before.

I also asked for some real numbers of tanners you all got your first month, second month and so on. I stated that I did not care where you are in the country and anything else about your situation, just the numbers.

These questions have to be answered before anyone can approch a bank for a loan....I may not even be able to offord this thing....but I have to be able to get the numbers here from experienced people (so I thought)!

So I ask another simple question and instead of GOOD advice and REAL answers, I get ridicule and sarcasim. As for the consultants...I can't get them to even give good real numbers without some money (that I don't have) up front.

So thanks for the put down and the non help!