Beauty Salon Feasibility Study in the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area

Very small salon loans in Cincinnati

Cincinnati salons borrow very little. The median loan is $51,200, well below the national figure at 0.51x, and the quartile edges sit at $25,000 and $201,775. Across FY2017 to FY2026, SBA approved 96 loans in the Cincinnati area, $15.0 million gross in all. Even so, salons rank 4 of 39 among Cincinnati classes, the area ranks 22 of 546 nationwide, and with a quotient of 1.22x, salons weigh more in this lending than in the country's.

Hamilton County in Ohio supplies 45 loans, Butler County 15, Clermont County 11 and Warren County 10. The area crosses into Kentucky and Indiana, though the counties that reach the listing threshold are all in Ohio. Programs: 90 loans carry the 7(a) label and 6 the 504 label, and the franchise share is 13.5%. At this size a loan finances chairs, mirrors, plumbing work and a security deposit; real estate is rare.

Lenders listed

One bank leads: The Huntington National Bank, with 37 loans and $3.9 million. U.S. Bank, National Association follows with 16 loans worth $579,700, a very small average. PNC Bank, National Association holds 6 loans worth $1.3 million, and Readycap Lending, LLC holds 5 worth $172,000. No development company reaches the threshold, as one would expect when 504 lending is nearly absent. The names come from SBA's file of loans held or once held and describe no current policy.

Cancellation without a charge-off rate

Salon cancellations after approval are at least 11.7% across approvals through FY2024. Cincinnati also lacks a published ceiling, a charge-off rate and some yearly counts; each gap is a missing value and never a zero. With the loans so small, a lender's main question is usually the owner's track record, and a study should lead with it.

A study for a salon in this area should show the stylists who will work the chairs, the booth-rent or commission model, the lease and its rent per square foot, the competing salons within a short drive of the site, and cash flow against the payment on a loan near $51,200. Cincinnati's 96 salon loans belong to Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren, four Ohio counties found in OMB's July 2023 list; a salon with an unplaceable county would be absent from the metro, so 96 is a minimum.