Beauty Salon Feasibility Study in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area

Salons: small tickets in Atlanta

Salon lending in Atlanta amounts to 166 loans and $43.9 million across FY2017 to FY2026, placing the area eleventh of 546 for the class, with salons also eleventh of 39 inside the local mix. At 0.90x, the location quotient trails the national share a little. A $150,000 median is 1.50x what the category borrows at the midpoint nationwide, framed by $50,000 and $327,250 at the quartiles. Even with that premium the cell is small in dollar terms: salons borrow far less here than hotels, gas stations or medical offices do, so the study is mostly about a modest buildout, equipment and working capital.

Almost all 7(a)

The 166 loans break down as 155 for 7(a) and 11 for 504. Franchised salons make up 17.5% of loans, so most are independent or booth-rental operations. SBA lists Readycap Lending, LLC with 11 loans worth $555,500, Stearns Bank National Association with 10 worth $1.7 million, Celtic Bank Corporation with 10 worth $1.1 million, 9 loans of just $105,000 in all under Wells Fargo Bank National Association, with Northeast Bank (ME), whose 6 loans are worth $747,700. The averages implied by those dollars are small, and the list is about who holds the loans, with no view of how any holder lends.

Where the loans sit

Fulton County has 52 loans, Cobb 30, Gwinnett 28 and DeKalb 20, with Cherokee and Forsyth at 6 each and Henry at 5. Only some yearly counts are published: 17 loans each in FY2017 and FY2018, worth $4.2 million and $3.2 million, 10 in FY2020, 8 in FY2021 and 14 worth $7.4 million in FY2023. Years left blank were suppressed for thin counts; they are not nil.

Floors, withheld values and the study

For salon approvals in FY2017 to FY2024, cancellations touched 14.3% at least, which makes the number a floor. Kept back for thin counts: any ceiling on cancellations, and any charge-off percentage. In this area, project counties are accepted when their names are found on the 2023 metro map. A salon study should test the resident and daytime population around the site, rent per square foot, the stylist and chair model, whether the owner rents booths or employs staff, the equipment budget, how cash flow carries repayment, and an appraisal that treats the business as a leasehold, not as real estate.