Beauty salon with crèche

[Lou189]

Hi,

I am currently in the process of doing my business plan for a tanning and beauty salon, however my friend (who is a childminder) has kind of jokingly said I should open one with a sound proof crèche and she could run the crèche whilst I run the salon. so thought I would ask if anyone actually thinks it would work or if it would be worth the extra space, costs etc and if anyone has any positive an negative feedback on the subject.

I have a young daughter and no family around to look after her so booking appointments at a salon can be a pain which is why I guess any opinions I have on the subject would be biased.

Thank you x

 

[sukic]

I've had this brainwave as well. There are a couple that I know of. Mothers Inc and PamperMum are two that I know of. I think they definitely work but you'll have to get qualified childminders with CRB checks. Good luck

 

[BannerPenguin]

I think it's a great idea but a creche can be very expensive to kit out and especially soundproof. Probably at least a few thousand.

 

[mrsd88]

Where I live there is an indoor play area which has a hairdressers/nail bar inside you can get your hair/nails done while your children play & the staff watch them for you it's quite a busy place I don't see why a crèche wouldn't work as long as there's plenty to keep the children occupied

 

[Becca@PolishedToPerfection]

I think it's a brill idea!! I've only just started going to hairdressers now my boy is nearly 3 because before I could never find a babysitter x

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

 

[molemaid]

I think its a great idea and i wish i had to scope to do it myself! There is a salon in London called Cupcake Mum which has been in trade press a lot and they combine the 2 very successfully. Good luck x

 

[Lou189]

Thanks everyone,

My friend is a registered childminder and knows everything about that side so she is going to look into it. X

 

[Ali_d2003]

I thought about this before too I think it'd be a brill idea

 

[sparkle_beauty]

I think it could work as i struggle getting to salons with two children under three, and i have often thought why can't they be a salon with a creche in it.

 

[jacqueline]

I daresay there is definitely a market for it for it, among the Mummy set, if it is designed and set up properly.

From the other side of the coin I would never use a spa/salon that had a creche as you cannot ever guarantee sound proofing (which in itself is expensive). What if the child decides to have a hissy fit on the way to their area whilst you are having a massage say or starts demanding their mummy and you are interrupted mid treatment?

 

[Boop]

Also from the other side, I would never consider doing this.

I'm sure it works well on large scales in the cities but for me, I LOVE LOVE providing beauty treatments and meeting clients old and new and I want to continue working to my best ability and make a decent profit. I would not however, want to be responsible for childcare or have costs of building/equipment/staff for a crèche coming from my profits.

I do understand there are clients that have difficulty getting to the salon because of little ones but that's what mobile therapists are for and there are some salons that will allow children.

I want to provide a beauty service not childcare. I think this is the clients responsibility not something that should come out of my pocket, why should it cost the therapist (staff/equipment etc) to watch someone else child while they're having a treatment?

 

[Belle Vie]

Sounds amazing and I'd pay for the child care in addition to the treatment providing it was sensibly priced along lines of childminders hourly rate!

Anyone know of one in Essex? I want to go to one!

 

[adamlea87]

Also from the other side, I would never consider doing this.

I'm sure it works well on large scales in the cities but for me, I LOVE LOVE providing beauty treatments and meeting clients old and new and I want to continue working to my best ability and make a decent profit. I would not however, want to be responsible for childcare or have costs of building/equipment/staff for a crèche coming from my profits.

I do understand there are clients that have difficulty getting to the salon because of little ones but that's what mobile therapists are for and there are some salons that will allow children.

I want to provide a beauty service not childcare. I think this is the clients responsibility not something that should come out of my pocket, why should it cost the therapist (staff/equipment etc) to watch someone else child while they're having a treatment?

I totally agree with this, although you would have to charge extra for the service so that you're not out of pocket, but it would depend on your client demographic. Out of that percentage of clients with small children, how many would be willing to pay an extra premium for you to look after their kids? I think in most cases that would be a very small amount of people.

In essence you would be basically running two businesses at the same time.

 

[Lou189]

Thanks everyone it's nice to hear both sides. Well yes it is two businesses we would just be combining both into one building and my friend would run the creche so i don't have to get involved in the legal side of children! Also the crèche would be on a different floor so the salon is separated.
The sound proofing isn't a problem expense wise as my partner does it along with the safety features of a crèche.
I understand why people wouldn't want the responsibility of other people's kids thought! And we will be doing some local market research to see if people would pay to use the child care service.

 

[dandelionpoppy]

How many people will be working in your salon? Bearing in mind that not every client will use the creche I can't see it being worth it for your friend unless you have a big salon.
Also, you would need to look into the regs for her sole working, and consider what to when she is ill or on hol.

 

[Kim A]

I did the very same thing, 30 years ago. Hair and Beauty salon with a crèche inbuilt, was very successful, a child minder to look after my little boy and also clients children too.

 

[Lou189]

How many people will be working in your salon? Bearing in mind that not every client will use the creche I can't see it being worth it for your friend unless you have a big salon.
Also, you would need to look into the regs for her sole working, and consider what to when she is ill or on hol.

Well you can only have so many children per crèche staff member so it would require a few staff as we are planning a fairly large salon. We have also done some market research and will be charging for the crèche.

Basically the gym near us has a crèche and it got so booked up I had to book 2 weeks in advance and pay £7.50 just for an hours gym session so I can't see why people would not want to pay a small fee for having a bit of child free 'me time' anyway only one way to find out...

Thanks everyone for your replies I appreciate them all and we are just going to give it a go and find out.x

 

[BannerPenguin]

Just a thought, if the creche is upstairs are clients that are getting pampered wanting screaming kids that don't want to be left alone dragged through the salon to get upstairs?

I would of thought you need like 80-90% of salon clients to have kids and put them in the creche for it to work.

 

[Lou189]

W haven't found a premises as yet but have looked at a couple of places where the reception would be in the middle so you wouldn't hear any screaming children. My partner builds houses and is good with appropriate set ups. Also from our market research most people said they would prefer the convenience of a salon with a crèche. So I think now we can only find out by actually giving it a know otherwise it will always be a what if... Thanks everyone x

 

[Debbiemh]

Hi Lou 187,
just wondering if you had set your business up, your thread seems very interesting and was thinking of setting this up also. I was wondering how it worked out for you? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Debbie