Salon Location

When people are trying to start a business, they often seek the counsel of others who have been in their situation. For those that have a business, or even those that went out of business, one of the most important pieces of advice they can give a potential owner is where to build. As the old adage goes, the three most important aspects of opening a new business is location, location, location.

Knowing where you want to build is the first step in any business plan. Starting with a general area, and moving down to more specific locations, business owners need to consider more than the size of the space. They need to consider traffic flow, view from the street and distance from competition, otherwise known as a needs assessment.

Dean Bellas, president of Urban Analytics, Inc., a demographic consulting firm in Alexandria, Va., says a needs assessments is the cornerstone of any good business plan and a definite start to finding a prime location.

"You need to figure out where you are going to draw your business from," says Bellas. "Are you the type of business that draws from street traffic or are more of your customers centrally located so they come to you—these are considerations for all businesses."

For small business, such as a first tanning salon, Bellas recommends working with local agencies and government departments to figure out such things as job market and zoning ordinances—most government agencies offer information for free or at a nominal cost compared to hiring a demographic consultant.

However for companies that have the money but don’t have the time to do all the foot work, hiring a demographic consultant eliminates the properties that will not work—fine tuning the location search.

"Those that are starting a business for the first time may not realize the thought that goes into a location," Bellas says. "Locating the generic data from a free source may help point them in the right direction."

Demographic studies are, of course, very useful when working on a business plan and may, in the long run, be worth the original investment; however, small businesses, do not often have the budget to do large demographic profiles of the area that include shopping habits, median age and housing studies. Therefore, one of the best pieces of advice current salon owners can give future owners is to locate near major retailers and chains opening in the same area.

Large chains and retailers can spend, and do spend, thousands of dollars studying the population, housing and buying habits of the area they are about to purchase. They also tend to conduct in-depth traffic flow studies and can afford to work with the city or county to create better land use around their properties. By locating in an area that contains a large superstore or chain, small-property owners are aligning themselves with bargaining power for the future.