Beauty salon?

Question

Beauty Salon?
Im thinking about opening my a beauty salon here in NY and was wonderin if someone could give an idea of how much it would cost to open a decent salon.

I prefer answers from people with experience but it isnt necessary.
Id also like to get an idea of how to pay my stylist whether its a flat weekly salary or a percentage.
If its a flat rate how much?

Answer 1

You'll need to find a place where you want your salon to be and find out how much the rent would be. Then go price some salon chairs and stations, sinks, etc... I'm not sure how much they cost there, everywhere is different. Then you have to consider your electric and water bill and if you want to sell hair products in your salon. You should have your stylists supply their own shears, blow-dryer, combs and brushes, curling irons, flat irons, etc... You can supply perms and color if you want and they can pay you for them as they use them or they can supply their own. As for pay for your stylists, you can pay either commission, 60% of what they do is a good start for starting stylists out and you can give a raise of like 5% in 6 months or so if you want to. Or, they can pay you chair rental, depending on your location and how busy you are $100 to $200 a week to start off with then you can raise it if you want after you see how your salon is doing just make sure you tell the stylists you hire when you hire them that rent may go up. Starting a salon requires quite a bit of money.

Answer 2

Sounds to me that you are pretty inexperienced in the hair dressing business. I am not a hair stylist but I am a business person so here are some suggestions. If you are not a licensed hair dresser-stylist then you may want to take the courses and become licensed. You don't need a license to own a shop but it is a good idea to have an idea of what goes on.

If you are a stylist then perhaps you may want to get a job in a salon for a few months - get to know what goes on, ask questions, get an idea of how much to pay staff, get an idea of how much to charge, and perhaps most important, get to know people - potential employees and potential customers. Make contacts with other hair professionals, suppliers and potential customers.

Before you even think about opening a shop set yourself down and draw up a budget. Don't even think about buying a building unless you have a lot of spare cash available. Rent a place. Look for a new shopping plaza in a new residential area. New residential means people moving in and customers like a place near where they live. Don't forget about employment costs. Wages obviously but there are also benefits to be paid in some cases. You may want to rent out booth space for a flat fee per month PLUS a percentage of each stylist's revenue. You will need to know what your expenses will be up front. Telephone, electricity, water, heat, rent, advertising. Don't do much yellow pages - just a listing with a phone number.

It is not easy to start out so try and think the whole process through before you start anything. Good luck!

Answer 3

I don't know about the realestae in NY but I helped open a salon with my freind in Los Angeles, another expesine city.

Well to buy the building it was $100,000. We paid cash because she refinanced her house. The chairs, mirrors, signs, sinks and supplies ran around $25K. Try buying your needs froma warehouse wholesaler for discounts. She charges her stylists booth rent, approximatley $400-500 a month. That covers her cost of bills, shampoo conditioner, perms and other hair cair needs. She has 6 stylists, 1 manicurists and 1 makeup artist (me). The stylists are charge more for booth rent than the others.

So salons want a percentage of the services that the stylist perform. Like if you charge $100.00 for braids or a weave then the owner gets $20.00. It depends on how much the mortgage loan is for you.

There are lot of things to take into consideration. Mortgage, insurance, location, parking, taxes, licenses, employess, clients and luxuries. We have a seperate room to do messages that we charge for. Sometime we serve coffee and tea in the morning.

Start writing down your ideas on a piece of paper. The next time you walk into a salon take note of everything you see. From the price rate to the shamppo used. You get a lot of ideas by looking at what your competitors will have to offer their clients.