Thinking about buying a tanning salon....

janny · 10-16-2004, 10:19 PM

I have been looking into buying an established salon. It has been in business for 7yrs. with 3 different owners. The present owner is closed wed. and sun. and on open days is closed from noon-3:30.(lunch hours..many tan then) The books I looked at shows she has made no money in the 3 yrs she has had it. Actually it has showed that she has put about 2,000 in of her own. The salon has 5 beds(wolf), two of which are face tanners. Also extra room to put a 6th bed in.It is on a main road, with the next salon about 1 mile east...none west or south of it and about 5 miles north. I'm so confused...I think I could improve it...but my concern is how much..I don't want to work for nothing... Also the beds are 7 yrs old...what is the life span on tanning beds.. Hope these questions don't sound to dumb...Any input appreciated...Thanks

tanu01 · 10-16-2004, 10:23 PM

The beds are to old to compete in todays market.From the sounds of it her books probabally dont mean a thing. All the cash is more than likly going into her pockets.
Bob

RockinAR · 10-16-2004, 11:51 PM

Lowball her on the offer to where you have enough cash left over to turn it around if you get it. If you spend all your cash on the salon you're going to be dead in the water, quick. It's the slow season and people are burning up cash. ****, if someone walked in my place and made some lowball offer I would take it.

Neon Beach · 10-17-2004, 11:18 AM

Here we go with the beds are too old stuff again! That depends on what any competition may have and what level of "service" you wanna provide. All tanning units tan, and as long as they don't look like beat up rust buckets, who cares? Clean'em up, touch'em up and/or do whatever you have to do to make them look they're best.

If you wanna get top dollar for your services then you may have to get into the $20,000 units that the comp may have.

My units are now 6 years old, and I have no intention of replacing them just because there are bigger and better units on the market. The look great, work great and I see no need to replace them as long as they stay that way.

You'll have to determine that yourself.

tboginski · 10-17-2004, 12:28 PM

keep the old beds as your base beds then buy one or two really nice new ones, they would be your upgrade beds.
As far as her books, i'm sorry but you can't beleive anyones books, i've worked for myself since i was 18 and i never reported all the money that came in or out of any of my businesss, I don't think anyone does.

hockey92 · 10-17-2004, 02:21 PM

I would say lowball her too..... She didn't keep reasonable hours... Most of my regulars tan at lunch time, and boy they would get peeved if I closed... That is why they came to me in the first place,

www.koolrayztanning.com

janny · 10-17-2004, 08:00 PM

I really want to thank all who commented on my questions.... anyone have an idea of how low i should go to purchase and still have a chance to make some $ in one year

DWhite6872 · 10-17-2004, 09:07 PM

It is hard to judge....if you need to buy an existing salon...because they are giving you a special financing deal then who are we to judge....every deal is different ...I have a different criteria and so on..... if you need special help and are getting a good deal with nothing down ect.....fine.

If you can get financed then...do not buy an existing salon.....everything is betterif it is new with tanning.....there has been major changes in the past 3 years and you should be able to capitalize on them with a new salon...

But is this is the only way and you will save money to upgrade your salon then go for it.

janny · 10-19-2004, 08:39 AM

She is asking 15,000. Said she would take 10,000. Do you think that offering 8,000 or less would be unreasonable. She has cards on all the customers, I thought I would go through them and send out a personnal card to each with new hours, new owner and some kind of offer to get them to return(any ideas) With her hours I'm sure she has lost many customers...also there are times she is to be open and leaves putting a note on the door...be back in an hour. She has been working it herself.

Neon Beach · 10-19-2004, 08:49 AM

$8000 might be pushing it. $10,000 sounds reasonable especially if you revamp the hours as you stated and make other positive changes.

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10-16-2004, 10:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
janny Join Date: Oct 16 2004 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	I have been looking into buying an established salon. It has been in business for 7yrs. with 3 different owners. The present owner is closed wed. and sun. and on open days is closed from noon-3:30.(lunch hours..many tan then) The books I looked at shows she has made no money in the 3 yrs she has had it. Actually it has showed that she has put about 2,000 in of her own. The salon has 5 beds(wolf), two of which are face tanners. Also extra room to put a 6th bed in.It is on a main road, with the next salon about 1 mile east...none west or south of it and about 5 miles north. I'm so confused...I think I could improve it...but my concern is how much..I don't want to work for nothing... Also the beds are 7 yrs old...what is the life span on tanning beds.. Hope these questions don't sound to dumb...Any input appreciated...Thanks

10-16-2004, 10:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
tanu01 "The Man" Join Date: Mar 4 2003 Location: ohio Posts: 3,977 Rep Power: 7	The beds are to old to compete in todays market.From the sounds of it her books probabally dont mean a thing. All the cash is more than likly going into her pockets. Bob

10-16-2004, 11:51 PM	#3 (permalink)
RockinAR Join Date: Sep 17 2003 Posts: 62 Rep Power: 0	Lowball her on the offer to where you have enough cash left over to turn it around if you get it. If you spend all your cash on the salon you're going to be dead in the water, quick. It's the slow season and people are burning up cash. ****, if someone walked in my place and made some lowball offer I would take it.

10-17-2004, 11:18 AM	#4 (permalink)
Neon Beach I'm Banned Join Date: Nov 30 2000 Location: Ontario Age: 45 Posts: 52,065 Rep Power: 0	Here we go with the beds are too old stuff again! That depends on what any competition may have and what level of "service" you wanna provide. All tanning units tan, and as long as they don't look like beat up rust buckets, who cares? Clean'em up, touch'em up and/or do whatever you have to do to make them look they're best. If you wanna get top dollar for your services then you may have to get into the $20,000 units that the comp may have. My units are now 6 years old, and I have no intention of replacing them just because there are bigger and better units on the market. The look great, work great and I see no need to replace them as long as they stay that way. You'll have to determine that yourself.

10-17-2004, 12:28 PM	#5 (permalink)
tboginski Join Date: Oct 10 2004 Posts: 156 Rep Power: 4	keep the old beds as your base beds then buy one or two really nice new ones, they would be your upgrade beds. As far as her books, i'm sorry but you can't beleive anyones books, i've worked for myself since i was 18 and i never reported all the money that came in or out of any of my businesss, I don't think anyone does.

10-17-2004, 02:21 PM	#6 (permalink)
hockey92 Looking at my Ta-Tas ..eh Join Date: Aug 31 2004 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,161 Rep Power: 11	I would say lowball her too..... She didn't keep reasonable hours... Most of my regulars tan at lunch time, and boy they would get peeved if I closed... That is why they came to me in the first place, www.koolrayztanning.com

10-17-2004, 08:00 PM	#7 (permalink)
janny Join Date: Oct 16 2004 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	I really want to thank all who commented on my questions.... anyone have an idea of how low i should go to purchase and still have a chance to make some $ in one year

10-19-2004, 08:39 AM	#9 (permalink)
janny Join Date: Oct 16 2004 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	She is asking 15,000. Said she would take 10,000. Do you think that offering 8,000 or less would be unreasonable. She has cards on all the customers, I thought I would go through them and send out a personnal card to each with new hours, new owner and some kind of offer to get them to return(any ideas) With her hours I'm sure she has lost many customers...also there are times she is to be open and leaves putting a note on the door...be back in an hour. She has been working it herself.

10-19-2004, 08:49 AM	#10 (permalink)
Neon Beach I'm Banned Join Date: Nov 30 2000 Location: Ontario Age: 45 Posts: 52,065 Rep Power: 0	$8000 might be pushing it. $10,000 sounds reasonable especially if you revamp the hours as you stated and make other positive changes.

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