Learn How to Open a Tanning Salon from A to Z Here:
Thank you for visiting my FREE website and I hope you find
the information here helpful! Please use the index to
the right to select the subject matter then click on
any photo or the
underlined links in "red" to read more information.
This webpage was
conceived to help new salon owners get started
in the Indoor Tanning Industry or to
help evaluate why you would
want to open a tanning salon in today's economic climate.
This website is supported financially by the various
advertisements you see throughout the site. Please help me
by visiting the advertiser's website who best meets your current
needs. I believe NOW is the best time in the past 10
years to open a new tanning salon! My name is
Rick Houston and you can call me at 321-432-3000 to ask me
why or
email me here. Please or select your subject of interest from the
index to the right >>>>>>>>>
Key Important Facts To SAVE You Money while opening a salon:
Number one thing you can do to save yourself money when opening a tanning salon this year: open the phone book and begin calling all the tanning salons in your area beginning with the one closest to your home. If you do this during normal business hours and they do not answer the telephone, then jot down the addresses of all the salons who do not answer the phone and plan to do a drive-by to verify they are closed and scout the location. While you are visiting each salon location, check to see if the front counter and walls are still intact and make a note of any contact phone numbers for the landlord which may be posted. If neighbors are close by, ask them smart questions about the location and why they think the tanning salon failed, etc. Get all the information you can from each location. KEEP IN MIND: A closed tanning salon location saves you TWENTY THOUSAND dollars or more in build-out costs for walls and electrical layouts.
We are currently
experiencing the toughest economic period since the great depression
and this has created a "consolidation" of indoor tanning facilities
and equipment. In the summer of 2010 the USA Today reported
the top 5 cities in the US for number of tanning salons were Pittsburgh,
Charleston, WV, Akron, Fargo, & Scottsdale. 
The lesson learned here is that a consolidation period
after an amazing growth period is only natural and has created great
opportunities in both location selection, build-out costs, and equipment
costs. The way to take advantage of this
consolidation period is to find an "empty salon" in which the walls and
maybe even equipment is still in tact and negotiate with the landlord to
"take it over" so to speak. Keep in mind when negotiating a lease
you should pay about half what the former owner was paying to be
successful in the same location. In the end, you get $20k worth of
building materials, half-priced rent, and his (or some one else's)
equipment at .20 cents on the dollar.
Reason #2: The new Health Bill included a
10% tanning tax which went into effect on July 1, 2010 and this
event, coupled with poor economic conditions, caused many salons "on
the fence", to fail. This is a created a fantastic "buy
low, sell high" opportunity for the open minded business
opportunist.
Most of the recently closed salons
were opened at the end of the growth period, which mirrored the end
of the real estate boom...which created artificially inflated real
estate prices and subsequently created incredibly high monthly rents
for tanning salons. The
current landlords were and are
unwilling to negotiate "down" a lease with a current tenant, but
perfectly willing to negotiate a "new" lease at a lower amount with
a "new" tenant. My recommendation is to
find a location near your home that has been empty for years and
offer the landlord half of the previous 3 year's high...you would be
shocked how many owners are now accepting these offers.
Another GREAT OPPORTUNITY right now is to check your local papers
for "absolute auctions" where the banks are selling commercial
property to the highest bidder. For example, in my small home
town in Ohio, I recently bought two commercial properties for only
$40,000 total at auction. You will me AMAZED at the real
estate deals for sale at auction every day in the US this
year...check your newspapers for details. Imagine
building a tanning salon business where you OWN the building or may one day!
Reason #3: The World
Health Organization (WHO) in April 2010 placed ultra-violet devices,
along with the sun, on the known carcinogen list. This is not
a surprise and this part of the continued awareness program the WHO
offers to make everyone aware of the damage the Sun, and sunbeds or
tanning beds, can cause to your skin if you ABUSE them or do not
take necessary precautions. This tanning bed and sunbed fact
sheet will from the WHO will explain how they say to "manage" these
risks. Click here
for health concerns.
Keep in
mind, we NEED regulation and awareness in our industry. Over 30 of
our states in the US have NO regulation or inspection of tanning
devices what so ever. Also, try to understand we are going
through a regulation period in the industry, along with a consolidation period of the number of salons, and a transition
period to
UV free spray tan products and
red light therapy bulbs as
well. If you embrace these changes and make it through these
tough times, your salon will be "battle" tested and able to stand
the toughest economic times...now! NOTE: You must provide some
type of UV free sunless tanning option at your new salon like a
spray tan booth or the hand held units pictured below. UV free
tanning is growing in popularity and now many salon have ordered
their second and third spray tan
booths as they remove old outdated tanning beds. Make sure
for 2012 you plan to add at least one spray tanning option in your
salon. You can find
used spray tan booths here.