The TanWall Blog

Last month, The IndoorTanning Association organized a “Repeal the Tan Tax” event in D.C., sending lobbyists to drum up support for a push to repeal the tan tax.

It looks like the Republican Party is going to be introducing the bill to repeal the tax.

Reasons for repealing the tan tax are as follows:

• The tax brings in less money than was projected so it really isn’t that effective.
• The tax unfairly targets smaller, lower-earning businesses with a large percentage of women owners.
• The tax has hurt many businesses and tanning customers, many of them women and college students.
• An estimated 18,000 tanning businesses have closed, resulting in the loss of some 24,000 jobs.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. Cross your fingers that the bill goes through!

A full story can be found here.

There have been some articles floating around recently about the retail industry’s shifted focus on dressing rooms; here’s one of them.

Basically, studies are finding that customers that use dressing rooms are 67% more likely to make a purchase. Given that information, many retail chains are improving their dressing room facilities, such as increasing their size (so friends can enter as well), installing better lighting, putting in T.V.s for disinterested boyfriends (or girlfriends/friends), and ramping up the service for trying on clothing.

The overall point of the article is that dressing rooms are important to the consumer, and the if the fitting experience is a positive one, the consumer is more likely to buy.

At TanWall we’ve been working with dressing rooms more and more, offering easy construction options for quality dressing rooms. We are definitely excited about this shift in industry thinking.

You can also take some of these lessons to the tanning industry as well: customers will keep returning to your salon if your service is top notch, and your facilities are clean and comfortable!

Amidst all of the shouting and screaming coming from the sunscare crowd as of late, there have been instances of pending legislation and even passed legislation on indoor tanning bed restrictions popping up all over the country.

Definitely hard to tell when all the noise will die down, but in the meantime, many tanning salons and tanners themselves are increasingly turning to spray tanning, which is a tanning salon service that has become more and more popular as time goes on. There’s certainly been a lot of buzz in the media about the service. Definitely a trend to keep in mind.

In December 2009 Sunset Tanz LLC President and Owner, James Harton set a new goal for his company: Branding and Expanding.

Harton was looking to move his business from a local multi city venue to a multi state venue. Although the right timing for moving into a multi state venue was still unknown, Harton knew that branding would be a key to success. With branding comes recognition, and with recognition comes high expectations from clients. One hurtle that Harton faced was build out. Although metal studs and sheet rock can recreate a location, time and time again, it was costly and time consuming. Harton recalled a modular wall set up at the Smart Tan Expo in Downtown Nashville back in October ’09 and decided to call up the little gal that he met there by the name of Kristina Admire. Admire and Harton conversed and quickly came to a conclusion: whether Sunset Tanz was to be 9 locations or 90 locations, Modular Walls would help with the brand recognition and professionalism of each and every store!

Harton and Admire quickly went to work on the details and standards of Sunset’s build out. Time was running short as January had come and gone in the blink of an eye and they had to work fast. At this point Harton knew that with deadlines, hefty regulations, and the feet dragging of city inspectors there was no way this salon location could be up and running by March using a conventional style build out. It was now that Harton knew the choice he had made was the correct one! After endless conversations with Admire, Harton was confident that the build out would take no more than 5 to 7 days tops. And that was going to be with only 2 men working full time and a 3rd man working part time. Admire and her trusty architect (who’s real name has been omitted due to the fact that he’s a spy for the CIA… [LOL, just kidding]), worked daily on the setup created as a rough drawing by Harton. Admire and Mr. Architect worked tirelessly until the job was done.  

February and March both came and went like a whirlwind with only minor issues arising; but they were quickly taken care of. Soon, the 9th Sunset Tanz location went from a dream to a reality…this dream was not only Harton’s, but also a dream that tanners in Athens, AL had been hoping would some day come true: the first professional tanning salon chain to come to Athens, AL! A sign of growth in tough economic times, not just for Sunset Tanz, but also for the city of Athens!

Now present day, Harton and the Sunset Tanz Crew continue to serve the people of Athens. The location that they had all waited for wouldn’t have been possible without Kristina Admire and the gang at Tan Wall. You might ask yourself, “What do modular walls have to do with the success of a tanning salon chain?” The answer: they have everything to do with success.

Here are reasons why you should use Tan Walls, just to name a few:

1. Tan Walls allow for better use of space (why waste space that you’re paying rent for?).
2. Tan Walls are quick and easy to construct (time is of the essence, time is money and time will pass you by!).
3. Tan Walls are less expensive (not to mention, they will save your crew from a vast majority of the inspection process in many areas of the country).
4. Tan Walls are re-usable (many times tanning salon chains will expand or relocate stores; why waste material and money?).
5. Tan Wall creates modular walled salon build outs at an affordable price (dare to compare, you’ll be back).

In short, if you need walls for your salon, whether it be 1 location or 100, use Tan Walls!

So the tan tax is supposed to go into effect Thursday, July 1. With salon owners and other business interests in the tanning industry, this tanning tax is a big deal.

Well, for starters the tax is 10%!

Consumers are really going to be cutting down on luxury items in this economic climate. Having increased tanning costs is not going to help things for small business owners in the industry. There will be consumers still willing to pay for their tanning…and there will be consumers who won’t. What this means is business is going to be hurt for most indoor tanning salon owners.

Now we come to the point in the story where we get down on our knees, spread out our arms, and shout to the sky, “Why?!” Read more…