Beauty Salon Feasibility Study in Ohio

Ohio salon loans run small

The figure that sets Ohio's salon lending apart is its size. The median loan is $50,000, a ratio of 0.50x against the salon median nationwide; the gap marks the Ohio cell off from the Ohio total across industries and from salons elsewhere. The middle half of loans runs from just $25,000 to $148,500. Volume is not the issue: among states, Ohio places 5 of 54 for salon lending, with 472 approvals worth $65.6 million from FY2017 to FY2026, and salons rank 6 of 39 among classes in the state, at a location quotient of 1.04x. So Ohio has many salon borrowers, each financing a small project.

One bank and many small loans

The reason is visible in the lender table. The Huntington National Bank holds 267 of the salon loans, $27.9 million in all, against 30 for U.S. Bank, National Association and 16 for KeyBank National Association. So many modest 7(a) loans from one lender go a long way toward explaining the low median. SBA 7(a) carried 454 loans and SBA 504 only 18. Franchised salons are 10.4% of loans. Franklin County leads with 78 loans, then Cuyahoga with 66 and Hamilton with 45. Annual volume peaked at 65 loans in FY2024 before easing to 29 in FY2026.

Floors and what a study should test

Cancellations reached no less than 13.1% of Ohio's FY2017 to FY2024 salon approvals, or 14.9% on the ceiling that counts undrawn loans. Charge-offs stand at 7.0% of the 171 loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, with 5.3% inside five years; open loans can still add to both. Small loans fail for small reasons, a lost stylist or a lease that resets, so the case rests on the owner's book of clients more than on a building. A feasibility study for a salon in Ohio should test demand street by street, because a salon draws from a short drive, check whether a loan near the $50,000 median truly covers the build-out and working capital, and show debt service coverage on chair occupancy the owner has already proved elsewhere. Where a purchase is involved, the appraisal will value ordinary retail space, not the fit-out.

No class limitation applies to salons. The industry code is the one recorded for the borrower, and both outcome rates are floors.