SBA 7(a) Beauty Salon Feasibility Study in Maryland

One lender holds more than half the file

The lender concentration is the main feature of Maryland's beauty salon loans. Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company holds 106 of the 192 loans approved since FY2017, with TD Bank, National Association at 12, Readycap Lending, LLC at 8 and The Huntington National Bank at 7. The listing is of present holders and silent on policy, but the pattern is plain: one institution's footprint shapes the cell.

Size and format

The file is worth $26.7 million. The median of $65,000 works out at 0.75x of the nationwide 7(a) figure; the middle of the distribution lies between $25,000 and $200,000. Franchised salons make up 12.5% of loans. Within Maryland the class sits 5th of 39, while the state stands 16th on volume, so salons are a commonly financed small business in a mid-ranked state.

A rising line

The yearly record is the other feature. Approvals were 8 loans in FY2021, then 12, 23, 27 and 30, reaching 36 loans and $4.8 million in FY2026, the highest of the ten years. That is a steady climb. Montgomery County has 30 loans, Baltimore County 28, Prince Georges 23, Howard 22, Anne Arundel 20 and Baltimore City 17.

Floors

Cancellation stood at 10.3% for approvals dated FY2017 to FY2024, and counting undisbursed loans does not change it. Charge-offs on the 58 loans funded between FY2017 and FY2021 total 1.7% now, identical to the 1.7% reached within five years. The cohort is small, and the loans are open, so these are floors with wide uncertainty.

What a Maryland salon study has to test

Chairs are the source of income, so the study should count stylist stations, the rent charged to independent stylists if the model uses them, and the service prices the neighbourhood supports. It should ask who brings the clients: the owner's own book, a franchise brand or walk-in traffic. Rent and build-out for plumbing and ventilation need to be matched to a loan near $65,000. Since one lender dominates the file, a borrower should ask whether the loan terms in the study reflect that market or a wider one. Run the loan through a sluggish ramp and a lead stylist's exit, and any valuation should rest on documented bookings.