help - all advice really welcome

[middlesbroe]

I have recently been made redundant from my job of approx 5 years and am looking to invest my redundancy in opening a tanning salon in the north east of england. Not sure if I am in the right place but I am loooking for some advice from people in the business about setting up my own salon. At the moment I am a complete novice.... What are obvious pitfalls i should look out for?
wheres the best place to buy my stock ie, tanning creams?
whats the best idea for generating additional income on-site?
how much should i charge per min etc?
any tips on things that have worked for you?
what legislation do i need to satisfy?
do i need specific health and safety stuff?
should i include a spray tan booth?

any advice you could offer me would be soooo appreciated...

 

[cherrysoda]

Hello!!!

I used to own a tanning salon and to be honest they arnt as popular as they used to be and they are really seasonal so u have to make as much money as you can in the summer to be able to cover the winter months!

You need to decide how many sunbeds you would like and whether you want to buy new or second hand!
If you want to buy new ones then i would shop around! you can check out Tansun, sunquest or ergoline on the net for some price ideas.
Good second hand ones cost from about £2,500 each but be very warey of who you get them off!!
The ones i had were fab but they cost £12,000 each new , which is actually quite cheap as you can spend up to £25,000 plus for just one from Ergoline.

If you want more than two sunbeds you have to make sure the shop you choose has 3 Faze electric as if it doesnt it will cost from around £1,500 to have it installed (more than two will not run off normal electric).

As for creams - there are many but have a look on the sites i have listed above.

Visit the sunbed association site too - this will help

Im not sure what the going price is where u live but i charged £1 for every 3 mins! I have however seen double this (£2 for 3 mins)

God i could go on for hours but that should keep you going for a while!!!

Oh and yes spray tan would be very popular!!

xxxx

 

[hippy-chick]

you need to do some market research.

I would think a spray tan and a tanning booth would be the way to go as it gives you more options.

would you be offering anything else?

 

[jackiegst]

I would be careful and check things out before investing your little nest egg. Sunbed shop are not as popular as they use to be. I have 2 friends both had sunbed shops. One closed as they were not as busy as they thought they would be. People don't want to come out in the winter. I would suggest you look at spray tanning instead as this is very popular, and a good profit can be made.. which is what you want. I don't know if you have thought about doing it mobile offering spray tan parties. this is also very popular at the moment. It is a good time to start as the summer is on it's way (hopefully) and at this time people are going on holiday too.

Let me know what you decide to do, good luck

 

[hippy-chick]

think you need to do some market research, but would seriously consider offering both tanning booths and spray tanning.

 

[lublu]

would agree with hippy chick the most important thing is checking there is a market for what you want to do.
I have a beauty and tanning salon - sunbeds arent as popular as they used to be
good luck
luce

 

[collin]

I would recomend you have a a good walk around your area and check out what's being offered by other salons...see if you can identify any potential opertunities to fulfill a gap in the market.

Likewise if all services are already being offerd that doesnt mean that you shouldnt..if you do it better than the other salons then you should be succesfull.

On equipment ref tanning I would sugest you offer both UV and spraytanning...keep your initial investment costs downI.E. dont go buying expensive sunbeds on finance thats going to kill your buisness...start slow.

Get yourself a verticle sunbed -more popular than lie down's generally speaking and avoid a spraybooth for now as these are extreemly expensive compared to a HVLP system..you can always upgrade once you have proved your salon is viable.

When starting off..unless you have a "sugar daddy" watch what you spend..if the salon doesnt work you could be in debt for many years to come.

If you stratergise and budget properly and do considerable market research then the chances are you will be succesful.

Good luck and do keep us posted on your progress :hug: