The 2008 Top 250 Report

Welcome to the ninth compilation of the Top 250 Salons in the United States. Since 2000, LOOKING FIT® has worked to identify some of the country’s most innovative, professionally committed and fastest-growing tanning salons. While this special issue spotlights only 250 salons, thousands of other salons truly are worthy of such a distinction. This year’s entries were impressive and surpassed last year’s number. There was a significant increase in the number of new entries from veteran salons, which illustrates the fact that more salon owners are comfortable submitting confidential financial and business numbers. Nominations came from industry manufacturers, distributors and industry veterans as well as salons themselves. We also solicited participation from salons we’ve met at trade expos and events, Tanning Tours, ITA board meetings and other industry functions.

As in years past, the judging process was grueling. I remind everyone that submissions are confidential, and all salons were required to fill out the comprehensive survey in order to be judged. Just because a salon made the list previously didn’t mean they were immune to the entry process.

To make it past the first round of judging, certain prerequisites were required. These included whether a salon was certified, held liability insurance, skin typed their clients on the first visit and was in operation by the same owner for one full year by the entry deadline. Other criteria that came into play when the judging was narrowed was whether a salon was a member of an industry association, active in fighting anti-tanning legislation and active within their communities, as well as whether they provided educational materials to customers and offered incentives or bonuses to employees. All of these factors help define the caliber of business they operate.

Each and every salon that made it to the final round of judging was contacted personally by our elite panel of judges. Every attempt was made to verify information so that each salon could be evaluated on its own merits. If a salon owner or operator did not return phone calls to verify information, they did not make it to the next round of judging—even if they were a past winner. Additionally, quite a number of salon employees either were apathetic toward our calls or reported that their owners rarely stepped foot in the salons, neither of which is indicative of a salon worthy of Top 250 distinction. Absentee ownership is a recipe for failure. Successful salon owners keep their finger on the pulse of the industry and consistently are in the salons to oversee business.

Being able to discuss the intricacies of the salon was extremely important in the final judging phase. Extra care was taken to inform participants how important it was to provide accurate information about their tanning facilities and the kind of business they do within a typical year—both during the busy season and off-season.

A host of variables contribute to a salon’s success, and each salon was judged separately. Salons were compared to others of similar size within their respective regions. Therefore, an 8-bed salon in Idaho was not judged against a 40-bed salon in Florida. However, a 12-bed salon in Massachusetts was judged in the same capacity as another 12- bed salon in its area.

As always, we attempted to lay an equal playing field for all of our respondents and relied on the truthfulness of the salon owners. The survey asked participants to provide extensive detail when describing their tanning businesses, including the number of salons owned, how many years in operation by that owner, types of services, total number of units at each salon, number of tanning levels, average price per session, types of retail products carried and more. We also examined whether a salon had changed up its business plan or upgraded equipment to attract more business in the last year.

Confidential statistics used in the selection process also included a salon’s 2007 gross revenue, percentage of growth or decline over its 2006 gross revenue, projected revenue for 2008, and percentages of monthly revenue generated from lotion sales, tanning and other services. We also asked salons about specific factors that affected their overall business.

Because the survey is so rigorous, we introduced a secure online entry process last year. Based on your suggestions we tweaked the system to be more user friendly for this year’s applicants, and as a result, more than 70 percent of salons submitted their surveys via the Internet.

The Top 250 Salons listing is alphabetized by state in five regions: Northeast; East and Southeast; Central and Southern U.S.; Northern and Upper Midwest; and Midwest and Western U.S. The chart is broken down into number of tanning salons owned, years in business, total number of units and brands of units.

The section listing the total number of units reflects tanning equipment and sunless stand-up equipment for all locations. For example, if a salon has two locations, and each location has 14 tanning units and one sunless standup, the total number of units for that salon equals 30.

We applaud the thousands of tanning facilities nationwide that contribute to professionalism and education in the indoor tanning industry. We realize this listing is not inclusive of every salon that would merit a listing; however, we feel it is an accurate listing of those who participated in the survey.

The competitive nature of our industry sometimes makes it difficult to get salons to participate and share their successes; in other cases, they are more than cooperative. LOOKING FIT believes it is important to continue to publish this list, since no other association or magazine tracks this information within the indoor tanning industry.

The U.S. indoor tanning industry provides cosmetic tans to approximately 30 million Americans each year. There are roughly 20,000 professional indoor tanning salons and another 15,000 locations such as health clubs, spas, video stores and beauty salons that have one or two tanning units. The highest number of tanning salons per capita are found in the Midwest and Southeast, with Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, South Carolina, Illinois, Indiana and Florida having the most salons.

The majority of indoor tanning facilities in the United States are small businesses, and more than 50 percent of them have female ownership, compared to 25 percent of businesses in other industries, according to the U.S. Census. Indoor tanning also provides jobs for approximately 160,000 employees annually, according to the Indoor Tanning Association.

Because indoor tanning is a vanity-driven business, the economy plays a key role in its wellbeing. In fact, 31 percent of survey respondents cited the economy as the No. 1 factor that affected their 2007 season. Many salons introduced new services—such as light therapy, day spa amenities and hydrotherapy—to attract new customers.

In additon, many salon owners are realizing the need to bring in new tanners who have not tanned indoors, because they cannot bank on attracting customers from their competition. They realize the only way to grow is to increase the total number of tanners nationwide. To do this, many owners have increased consumer education regarding the benefits of tanning and vitamin D.

The No. 2 factor that affected the season was antitanning legislation and anti-tanning campaigns, which came in at 25 percent. Last year was very active in terms of anti-tanning legislation, and 2008 is shaping up to be the same. If you are not active in the industry, then become active. This is our industry, and we should be the ones educating tanners and non-tanners about the benefits of sunlight and controlled exposure. We should be navigating our future, not letting the government and the dermatologists regulate us out of business. Stay abreast of the issues in your area and at the national level. Talk to your fellow salon owners and join the ITA. The future is yours to protect.

The most current industry statistics and trends can be found on page 16. These statistics were calculated from approximately 1,200 confidential surveys gathered between June and Nov. 9, 2007, as part of the overall 2008 Top 250 Salons survey responses across the country.