Press Releases

Nail, hair, and skin salons: bane or boom?

(Boonton, NJ, November 3, 2005) — Downtowns frequently complain that they are being overrun by nail, hair, and skin salons, as well as other personal service operations such as fitness centers and spas. In some downtowns these operations may pose considerable challenges, but in others they can be real assets worth nurturing.

In the October 15 issue of Downtown Idea Exchange newsletter, N. David Milder, president of urban-planning consulting firm Danth, Inc., examines the typical fears about these sorts of businesses, and the rationale for a reassessment.

Opposition to salons and other personal service operations are frequently based on the fear that they:

• Reduce the number of retail venues and diminish the merchandise selection that the downtown can offer to shoppers.
• Inhibit window-shopping and strolling by downtown visitors because their windows lack merchandise and are thus deemed not interesting to look at.
• Are willing to pay high rents and thereby make it more expensive for new retailers to enter the district and existing retailers to renew their leases.

Nationally, the demand for such personal services has seen very strong growth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1997 and 2002, revenues from hair, nail, and skin care services jumped by 42 percent nationwide. Revenues from “other personal services” increased 74 percent over the same time period. “Downtown leaders would be crazy to ignore such a growing market,” Milder writes.

Knee-jerk opposition to such businesses is wrong, he concludes. Each instance in which personal services exhibit strong growth must be closely examined, as they are often unique. Often a profusion of salons and other personal services can be a real traffic generator and a strong downtown social asset. In other instances, they can be a symptom of tough underlying problems relating to property ownership and retailing.

The full text of the article is available at http://www.downtowndevelopment.com/perspectives.php.

Downtown Idea Exchange is a twice-monthly newsletter reporting on downtown problems and solutions in an effort to provide a focus for revitalizing the central business districts of towns and cities.

Website: http://www.DowntownDevelopment.com