Beauty Salon Feasibility Study in South Carolina

The small end of SBA lending

Beauty salons in South Carolina borrow small amounts, and that is the page's main lesson. From FY2017 to FY2026, SBA approved 73 salon loans in the state, a total of $20.2 million, and the median loan is $123,000. That is 1.23x what salons borrow nationwide, so the state's salons borrow somewhat more than their peers, yet the middle half of loans still runs only from $25,000 to $349,000. On rank, South Carolina sits 29 of 54 among states, and salons come 9 of 39 inside the state. A location quotient of 0.80x means salons make up a smaller share of South Carolina's approvals than of the national mix.

Lenders, programs and places

SBA 7(a) accounts for 66 loans and SBA 504 for 7, so the product is overwhelmingly a working-capital and fit-out loan rather than a real estate purchase. Franchise affiliation reaches 9.6% of loans. The lender table has a striking feature: TD Bank, National Association holds 24 loans but only $847,500, an average ticket of a few thousand dollars, which points to very small credit lines. Wells Fargo Bank National Association holds 7 loans worth $937,000, while Countybank holds 6 worth $3.2 million, a far larger average. By county, Greenville has 16 loans, Charleston 11, Beaufort and Lexington 7 each, and Richland 6. Volume peaked at 14 loans in FY2019 and has ranged between 3 and 10 since.

Cancellations and a withheld rate

The cancellation floor is 7.3%, with a ceiling that matches at 7.3%. Our table leaves out the loss rate, as the disbursed FY2017 to FY2021 group holds under 30 loans. We therefore show no figure and make no claim that losses were absent. Small cohorts swing wildly with a single failure, which is why the rule exists. Dollars by year show the pattern: $2.0 million in FY2017, only $125,000 in FY2020, then $5.8 million in FY2023 and $3.5 million in FY2026.

Chair economics and the underwriting test

Any salon study should treat chair count and stylist retention as the central assumptions, since revenue per chair and the share of income paid to booth renters or commissioned stylists decide whether a small loan can be repaid. It should test the location's foot traffic and competing salons, the build-out cost against loans near the state median, and a debt service coverage ratio under a slow first year. Equipment and fixtures offer thin collateral, so lenders often lean on the owner's guarantee, and the study should show the plan works without that backstop. Loan Analytics publishes the SBA record behind these loans so both sides can check a proposal against reality.