northshorerob

I need some ideas.. oh wise ones..

I have an 8 bed salon, in a town of about 60,000.
I pretty much have the market to myself.. pretty much..

there are few hair salons that have beds too.. but I am the only "tanning salon" but not for long..

I am in an awesome new shopping center, tons of parking, I am open 7 days a week, I open at 7am, close 9pm.. and I have an online appt book as well..

The new place is going into an old convenience store building, in a gas station parking lot, it is in a high traffic part of town, on a busy street... but it only has 7 parking places... and one way in / out.. which were some of the reasons the old conv store could not make it..
I hear there are 13 beds going in there.. but 7 parking places??

Any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated..

Ezliving_Jim

7 parking spaces. Figure 2 used by employees; leaves 5. They better have valet parking.

Seriously, it's their equipment/pricing vs. your equipment/pricing. You have an EFT?

unity

I am only worried about competition if they look better than me. ;)

Clean, paint and keep you place top notch and I am sure you will be fine. Dont do anything that make you look like you are in a panic though :) Dont talk them down, makes one look bad.

60k is A LOT of people for a town with one real salon, thats actually way below the norm. I dont have the figures, but in my area there are about 20 salons in a populated area of 80k!

I think you will be fine. Competition can be a good thing. I had one open blocks from me not too long ago. People want to check them out, it gets them tanning. Once that switch is turned on they get a "taste". I found that it helped me out a lot and hurt me none. Not all cases are that way. If you have a pest infested dirty place, worry. But if you are a popular place with a friendly clean environ then concentrate on making your sales and worry less about them opening!

just my 2 cents...

__________________
OMG! I made a post! :)

kdhtan

northshore,
I understand your panic mode at the moment, but it really doesn't sound like you have much to worry about when you are looking at it from our shoes over here. What I mean is... a gas station/convience store couldn't make it in that location what makes someone think a tanning salon will make it there? A gas station/conv. store gets a lot more traffic than a tanning salon would. I think the 7 spaces and the 1 way in& out could be a HUGE problem for them. Just because they are coming in new doesn't mean they will have the newest hottest equipment either. I have had 2 salon in my area open up with used junk beds and run the same prices as me. Needless to say they aren't doing to well.
People will drive out of their way for cleaniness and customer service. Maybe after the busy season doing a little touching up of your place, if it's even needed.
When people mention to you in your salon about the new one. Just look shocked and say really I haven't heard anything, then say I wish then the best of luck. People will be shocked by how cool and collected you are about, and how you even wish them luck. They will love that you are the bigger person!!!
Let us know how things are going with everything, and keep us updated!!!

northshorerob

Thanks to all of you..

We are new ( 1 .5 years ) too.. Our shopping center is new..

So we are still new looking :)

I have heard they are putting some really high end beds, but will charge big bucks for it, It is a town where people really value $$, and my feeling is they will see this super fancy beds, and see the cost difference .. and realize tan is tan.. but not at 30-40% prices.. especially with gas being $3.50 a gallon here...

unity

Well thats the method a salon near me did. High beds with high prices. A have a friend that works there, she says they have yet to sell even ONE session in the high end bed. $30 per session and its not even partial HP (besides face tanners). Needless to say they are not doing well.

__________________
OMG! I made a post! :)

crzytanner

I don't think you will have anything to worry about especially since you are the only one besides them in a town of 60,000. I live in a town about that much and there are 8 salons here and believe me I don't have any problems making money. I couldn't tan everyone in town. But having 13 beds and only 7 parking places sounds a little crazy. Don't think those people did much thinking about that. I guess they can carpool to tan! LOL! But no really I think you will be fine, you are a reputable business that has been in town a long time just keep your prices competitive, thats what I do, I match other salons prices or better.

unity

I am betting that the parking, as mentioned but I will say it again, will be the Achilles heal. Think about it, if the lot is full people will think the place is busy/full. They will drive to the next place, likely you. Eventually that habit will catch on and switches will likely switch back.

__________________
OMG! I made a post! :)