You will need to choose a location with a good passing trade and lots of potential customers; however many of these will already be taken by the numerous hairdressers already in existence. This means you will probably need to pay high building rental costs to get a prime location.
Inside your hairdressers you will need pleasant decoration, along with good chairs and mirrors; this will help improve the atmosphere and encourage regular customers.
Opening a hairdressing salon or barbers is often a next step for those that have been successful at freelance or home hairdressing, having a shop location will imply a better quality of service; and will be more attractive to customers.
A key decision you will need to make is who your hairdressers sells to; hairdressers and salon are usually either men’s, women’s, or unisex. A unisex salon will have more potential customers, but is likely to mean you need extra staff to cover the wider range of potential styles and services they may want. Women’s haircuts and styling generally cost more, but are less frequent, and require a higher standard of service.
Profits from hairdressers will depend on the price you charge, which should relate to the quality and experience of your staff. In most salons aimed at women, customers pay a basic rate for general staff, but have the option of paying more for a more experienced staff member.
Men’s and unisex hairdressers tend to attract a lot of passing trade, while women’s hairdressers usually work using pre-booking. Hairdressers (particularly women’s and unisex) often advertise in local papers and business directories (E.g.: Yellow Pages or Thompson Directory). Word of mouth can also help bring extra customers, particularly if both the service and atmosphere is good.
There is a lot of competition for hairdressers in most areas, and it may not be easy to succeed; but with a good quality service and reasonable prices it is possible to create a strong profitable business.
Pro:
Operating from a shop implies better quality than home-hairdressing.
There are always a large number of potential customers (I.e.: Almost everybody in your area!)
Con:
There will almost always be lots of competition; there are likely to be hairdressers in most good locations already.
Profits are relatively small unless you can charge a high price based on ability.
Skill Level = Medium to High
Start up Costs = Medium
Training = Mainly long courses
Experience = A huge advantage, usually gained during training/qualifications
Equipment Costs = Low
Location/Office Costs = High
Transport Required = No, unless you wish to offer home hair services
No of Staff (incl. you) = 2-6 +
