New Salon - which would you choose??

[Anita]

Hi Everyone,

My daughter would love a beauty salon but can not afford it on her own, also she does not have much of a business mind but is great in her chosen career (Nails, waxing, make up etc).

I supposedly have the business brains - well thats what i get paid for (Retail business management)

Any way to cut a long story short my partner and I have decided that we will help her set up and i will run the business side of the salon for her (accounts/admin etc - generally all the boring side of stuff) while she concentrates on the client side of the business.

My question is should we rent an empty unit and set up the salon from scratch or should we buy an existing beauty salon already established and set up may be with a few members of staff on the books?

If we were to buy an exsisting salon what would be the kind of things to look for/avoid/ask the propriator?

Does a salon need a special type of licence (ie; like hot food needs to have A5 retail licence so you can operate selling food stuffs from)

Any help or advise would be greatly appriciated as although she has practical experience she has always worked for a salon and doesnt realy want to ask her boss because she doesnt want any ill feelings as obviously this could take ages to come into practice or not happen at all if we cant get the right salon at the right price - what ever the right price is??

Thank you.
Anita

 

[october]

Hi
i bought an exisiting salon 2 years ago which enabled me to have a head start on getting it up to my standard, the issues that come with it are exisiting staff. You are legally obliged to take on the staff already employed unless you have reasons for dissmissal.
If you buy exisitng watch out on hidden costs i had to take on the stock which was awful and i had tp replace starightaway.
Does your daughter have exisiting clientele already? if so she might be better going to work for herself and rent some space first to see how she gets on after everything you have to pay out it might be more worthwhile before making such a big commitment

 

[Anita]

HI October, Thanks for the reply.

She does have clients where she works but something in her contract that she can not poach them if she leaves although i am sure some of them will follow her she is not officially allowed to take the client list.

I am presuming an existing salon would have its own client list? or am i just being nieve?

What kind of questions would you ask a salon owner who is selling their business - can you ask to see clent/appointment books? i presume they will have to show you their accounts - sorry if i sound thick but as i have never bought into a business i am trying to get as much info before viewing any prospective businesses so i dont go out their and look stupid.

Anita

Anita

 

[lizzie27]

hiya,
i have my own salon that i set up straight from working for another,
and in my opinion it is always best to start from scratch, therefor not taking on any other reputation or financial muddles!
honestly its not as hard as you think to start the salon but i would DEFINATELY start small and not throw yourself in the deep end with a massive salon with loads of staff!
also make sure your daughter is prepared for the immense amount of time and labour she will have to put in to get it off the ground!
i dont get home most nights until between 7 and 10pm, and rarely get long breaks, so before you invest your money just make sure everyones aware that its not the same as going in to work for someone else at set hours.......
hope this helps, let me know if you need advise with anything else xx

 

[Anita]

Hi Lizzie27,

Thanks for the advice,

We anticipate that it will take a lot of long hard working blood sweat and tears to either set up from scratch or even to take on an existing business, just wanted to get some sound advice from you guys who have already been there and done it.

Was the site you opened just empty space or had it been a salon in the past?

Apart from possible staffing issues what else should we be weary of if buying an existing business? there are a few for sale in our area that i would like to go and look at but not realy sure of what to look for when i get there and as my daughter does not get involved in the day to day runing of her bosses salon she's as much at a loss as me.

 

[Martin Smith]

Hiya

At the risk of 'teaching my granny to suck eggs' there is one thing and one thing only that is THE most important thing to look at when buying an existing salon - the client listing. How many have they got? How many are regular clients? How much do they regularly spend? I know one salon owner that got £10k wiped off the price of the business because the seller had over stated the size of the client list.

Hope this helps

 

[Anita]

thank you for that brilliant piece of advice Martin. I will remember that

Anita

 

[GLAMOUR BEAUTY]

My advice is be careful with buying an existing salon, as I see salons on a daily basis I hear lots, usually that end in tears :

1, I have a client base of 5000 but really it is 500 and only 100 are regular.

2, Buying the stock, most out of date

3, Buying equipment, most you would not even use in a dogs house

4, Staff. we never did it that way, hard to retrain to your standards

5, Seller takes her clients with her, set up mobile or from home

6, things have gone missing on completion day - no head for the ipl machine (O that was not included in the price)

7, crystal clear machine and sunbed included in price to find out they are on lease and you have to pay monthly or renew if you want to keep them

the list is endless

My advice is be careful and read everything twice

Good luck

 

[Anita]

Thank you, this advice is realy useful - did go see a salon last night - what a waste of time, it was so bad i would not have taken my dog there(if i had one) for its claws clipped. obviously once decided to sell they have let the place go totaly - sales advert showed double takings to actual current takings! salon pictures looked lovely but in fact it was dirty and untidy - no wonder takings had gone down. staff looked like they belonged in Vicky Pollards gang and handwritten signs everywhere. god what an eye opener. thing is a couple of doors down was a very classy looking nail salon has open resently - you would think that would have made them pull their socks up at least?!?
Oh well keep looking!

Please keep offering your advice

- another question

Anyone know any good agents/publicatons for beauty salons for sale?

thank you all

Anita

 

[tweeboo]

hey

have you tried teh Business Link website? there is loads of info on there, you can alos try to call Citizens Advise and they will help you to and give you loads of info.

By law she cannot poach clients from where she works but she can advertise in her local news paper with her name and say something like:-

" Faye Smith formely of a beauty salon in (name of village) has now moved to (name of new salon) offering 20% discount to existing clients".

hope this helps you chuck.

James

 

[Anita]

thanks james
the ad in paper is a good idea.
I will check out business link now.
Have a good weekend

Anita

 

[lizzie27]

i really think for the price of buying someone elses salon, and paying a premium for there 'clients' and 'equipment' you are soooooooooooooo much better off setting your own up at your standard!!!!
its really not hard, and clientelle builds up really fast in the right area...
i gaurentee it will be cheaper than buying somewhere else!
just out of interest, no worries if you dont wanna say, whats your budget?
with this info i can tell you for sure what you should do compared to what it cost me......xxx

 

[pips]

Hi Anita, i noticed you are from west yorkshire so its possible you get the local rag (wakefield express) i have from time to time seen adverts in there (business for sale section) where beauty salons are up for sale or where there is vacant premises which would be ideal for a small run salon.

Another place you can check for an already established salon that is for sale is here Businesses For Sale UK - Sell or Buy a Business for Sale

This link should take you to the available for sale list Buy a business search results on BusinessesForSale.com

Hope this helps you a little in your adventures :hug:

 

[Anita]

thanks lizzie, the budget is not very big but nothing set in concrete, trying to get an idea of set up costs v's buying already set up. the one i went to look at was 23,000 but to be honest due to the state of it i felt that this was way over price - but she was selling through a large agency who i have been told hike the prices up to get their commission. We are quite open minded at the moment trying to get an idea of what you might get for your money so to speak.

have a great day
Anita

 

[Anita]

Hi Pips, thanks for your advice, will take a look at these sites now

Have a good day
Anita

 

[lizzie27]

Hi ya ur budget isnt small! Its more than double what mine was! I managed to set up a brand new salon with accounts with dermalogica, st. Tropez, and o.p.i! I also have a st. Tropez airport booth. And decorated the whole place in old french romantic style. U have more than enough to start a fresh and get exactly what you want x

 

[Anita]

thanks lizzie,
only problem, trying to find right premises. seems all the best sights have already gone round here unless i cant see the wood for the trees- would you look for a high street location or a community location
regards
Anita

 

[Marlise]

I'm mobile and don't have my own salon, but my personal view would be to obtain your own premises and start from scratch.

As mentioned before, that way you can have things exactly the way you want them and won't have to worry about all the other things mentioned.

Realistically, salons that are successful very rarely sell and if they do, they will charge a premium for it. The description you gave of the salon you went to go view last night doesn't surprise me ! I suspect the new salon is having a booming trade.

If you can't find any decent premises now, why rush ? I'd rather wait until I found the perfect place than sign a lease on a property just for the sake of, and then discover that I'm in the wrong location or whatever.

The other option of course is to have a home salon if you have the space. You could convert the garage or if you have a big back garden, get a nail shed :lol:

Quite a few Geeks on here have them and they look gorgeous !


Marlise

 

[lizzie27]

hi anita,
to be perfectly honest i was in the same position as you when i opened, this is why i have so much interest in your thread, i had very little experience in business.
i set up my shop in an area where there were hardly any available propertys,i just saw it on the off chance!

the reason for there being very few shops is that it is a very small village.

the fact was, (which i didnt realise at the time) it was one of the most populated areas in our county! it just had no shops! only towns near by!

i saw it as, no shops, no people! which was sooo wrong! go to the areas with the most amount of chimneys, and the least amount of competition, there for cheaper to buy/rent, but alot more profit xx

 

[Anita]

thanks for the responce, i am struggling to find premises well, its more of finding agents with premises on there books. A friend of mine told me that most dont have to let or for sale boards up they are sold through an agent but i dont know who the agents/landlolrds are? i really want to get this progect up and running quite quickly as - well i am just impatient once i get an idea in my head, that sort of thing. its ok driving around and finding empty premises but it is locating the landlords thats the problem

any advice would be very helpful
thanks anita