Setting up a new business can be a fun and exciting experience if you are prepared for the challenges that you will almost certainly face. If you have decided that you want to open a new hair salon, then there are a lot of things which need to be considered, including the name of your salon, what additional services you are going to offer, how much you are going to charge and where is the best hair salon location. Choosing the best location for your salon is actually one of the most important things which you need to do, because the cost of your location will probably end up influencing the prices charge.
The first thing you need to work out is roughly how much you will be able to spend on the annual rental costs of your salon. Visiting a commercial letting agent to discuss all of your location needs and your budgetary requirements can be very useful at this stage, as the letting agent will be able to show you what is available. If you visit a letting agent in person, it can actually be a lot better than simply browsing through commercial properties on the internet, because the chances are that they will have some great options available to you which have not been put live on the website yet. Talking to a letting agent in person will also give you the opportunity to ask as many questions as you want and they may even be able to arrange viewings for you that very same day. You may even be able to negotiate prices.
The best hair salon location can actually depend on your intended client base and how you intend to market your products. How big your salon space is will often be dictated by the area in which you choose to set up your business. In city centre locations, larger spaces will usually be prohibitively expensive for first time business owners.
Renting a commercial property in the town or city centre, will be much more expensive than renting a location on the outskirts of the town, or in a more residential area, however, you may be able to attract more upmarket clients. Having a city centre location is not necessarily as important for a hair salon as it is for some other sorts of business, because hair salons do not rely on passing trade and walk-in clientele as much as shops do.
If you choose to have your salon closer to a built up residential area, your rental costs will be much cheaper. Targeting your marketing towards people who live in that housing area can encourage people to believe that your new hair salon will be the best hair salon for them – consider flyering the area with discount vouchers, or offering a discount to people who can prove that they live within that area code because this will help to draw in local people.
Never choose a location right next to a major road, even if it does seem very cheap. A big road will be distracting to your stylists and will not help your clients to relax and enjoy their experience. Tables Manucures