Expanding Your Hair Replacement Businesses
When Do You Know It's Time? By Stacey Handel, Garde Bien Spa Salon Inc., Knoxville, Tennessee
A thriving business, bulging at the seams will have its challenges, but is it a sign to expand? In my more than 44 years in the hair industry, there have been many changes in desired services to meet the ever-changing trends and shifts. Remember shampoo sets? Hair loss is not a trend. Even throughout the pandemic, we were heading for expansion because the demand for our type of services has been exploding consistently for the past five-plus years.
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We are aware of the increased demand to address hair loss in women and the market will sustain this for many years to come. Based on the frequency of traffic and new clients adding more space is needed to keep up with the requests for the types of services. By adding space and staff we could finally be able to promote in crossmarketing, television and other events where without doing so, the increases in traffic would put too much stress on our schedules.
from my commercial bank before moving forward.
At any given time all businesses are at various stages. A start-up business has numerous elements and a comprehensive checklist whereas an established business will have other concerns and needs.
Our first step was to outline the needs for space related to the service areas where we have challenges. I used a software program to design walls and rooms to present to our architect. Our first architectural meetings were to work through hurdles for proper ADA requirements for the restroom, determine a location for pass-through door upon opening, and designing the most efficient use of the space. After closing on our site, our contractor started demolishing various walls to search for available plumbing and electrical access and remove unwanted fixtures and finishes. He also painted the ceiling.
I discussed my business expansion with my CPA and financial adviser to review the fiduciary concerns. I met with a commercial real estate agent to discuss the property values in the area. I also had input
Our plan will include scheduling some demo on our current space for additional needs in mid-construction. An architect prepared blueprints from my renderings for building permit approval.
