Beauty Salon Feasibility Study in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area

Nashville salons borrow well above the national norm

Nashville's beauty salon record leads with size. SBA lists 44 loans for FY2017 to FY2026, $12.1 million approved, and the median of $255,800 is 2.56x the national figure. The quartile edges are $66,800 and $354,250. Salons are 6 of 39 classes locally, with a location quotient of 1.13x, and the metro is 43 of 546 across metro and micro areas. Franchise share is 27.3%.

Counties and program

Davidson County, TN accounts for 27 loans and Williamson County, TN for 11, so the city and its affluent southern neighbor carry the record. Nashville gives no 7(a) figure and no 504 figure, so the program mix is unknown. Because Franklin and Brentwood sit inside Williamson County, the higher-income suburban trade areas appear here alongside the urban core, and a study should keep the two apart.

A single listed holder

The Huntington National Bank is the only holder to clear the listing line: 5 loans worth $2.8 million, a large share of the $12.1 million, according to SBA's holder field. It is a tally of holdings and not a view of the bank. FY2020 printed 0 loans and $0, FY2024 printed 9 and $2.4 million, FY2025 printed 6 and $973,900, and FY2026 printed 9 and $2.9 million. Seven earlier years, FY2017 to FY2019 and FY2021 to FY2023, are withheld.

What is missing

No cancellation rate or charge-off rate is published for the 44 Nashville salon loans, and absent does not mean zero. Nashville totals include Davidson and Williamson only because those names appear in the 2023 list.

The Nashville salon study

Given loans so much larger than the national median, the study should establish what the money buys: a suite model for independent stylists, a larger multi-chair salon, or a franchise buildout. It should test stylist supply and retention, rent per square foot in Davidson and Williamson counties, and the price points local clients will pay. Run coverage at $255,800 and near $354,250, and ask the appraiser to price improvements and equipment separately. Music-industry and healthcare employment support a mobile, image-conscious clientele, but the study should confirm that with the draw area around the specific address and check the lease for build-out allowances.