Is 30k a good enough amount to start a tattoo parlour

sexmag

Hi all,

Just a general question.

In my locality I've come up with the idea to open a tattoo parlour, I've done data and questionnaires and the market is there, a local shopping centre which has a major food market as it's flagship store along with around 40-50 other shops on two levels has a fairly decent amount of foot traffic daily. There are also around 8 vacent stores to lease.

I've enquired into a unit on the ground floor that is just over 600 square foot and the rent including all service charges required for the centre is 25k for the year but can be paid quarterly.

Is 30k a reasonable amount to open up a parlour? To furnish a unit to be a parlour,meeting all health and safety requirements including insurance etc and pay a quarter of the deposit? I'm aware I will need to source artists but that won't be an issue as I've connections with some and at today's rates the predictions for the income of the shop shows us in a healthy profit fairly soon in business terms.

Has anyone any input as at this point I'm just looking for feed back

Thanks

eeloe

A good tattoo shop wouldn't need to be in a shopping centre, saving a fortune in rent. 25k a year to rent 600 square foot is insane IMO!

sexmag

eeloe wrote: »

A good tattoo shop wouldn't need to be in a shopping centre, saving a fortune in rent. 25k a year to rent 600 square foot is insane IMO!

You think that but there isn't one in the local area for around at least 10 mile radius and the foot traffic that goes by this particular unit is quite high and is our target demographic so we would benifit in the long run, there is another couple of units on the second floor that could be of benifit that I am also considering but I appreciate all feedback

porsche boy

A personal observation I have is that tattoo parlours do A lot of evening & weekend business. Will the centre be open at these times...
The local lad in my town opens 3-9 with booking available before & after.

professore

Stick something up on the notice board and / or pay for a few posters and set up somewhere cheaper. People who want tattoos are generally motivated to find you.

sexmag

porsche boy wrote: »

A personal observation I have is that tattoo parlours do A lot of evening & weekend business. Will the centre be open at these times...
The local lad in my town opens 3-9 with booking available before & after.

The centres is open from 8am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and until 8pm on sundays.

We'd be hopping to book up slots before hand and then work from there in what are the best hours to open and close from, a sort of trial an error, we asked that in the questionnaires regaeding preferred times but I took the responses for that question with a pinch of salt as people's needs change all the time

sexmag

professore wrote: »

Stick something up on the notice board and / or pay for a few posters and set up somewhere cheaper. People who want tattoos are generally motivated to find you.

Thanks for your response.

There wouldn't really be an ideal unit around this area that would suit, mainly housing estates and roads etc which is why the shopping centres seem the best fit.

Again nothing confirmed but just checking on if I invest 30k into opening the shop would that be enough to cover the basics etc?

SteM

I think you're putting a lot of importance on foot traffic. Is that very important in this industry? I would imagine that someone that wants a tattoo will seek out an artist they want to use. Surely there's somewhere cheaper you can rent?

sexmag

So the consensus is that the rent for the unit over a year is too much?

I've looked but couldnt find somewhere similar in the area,I'll looks again of course and see if anything has opened up.

The reason I refer to foot traffic a lot is the average of people who walk buy and visit this centre are between 20 and 30 which is prime age for tattoos and being seen by them is good advertising,that couples with the lack of one within a reasonable difference and quality artitis can lead to decent profit

Pelvis

Tattoos and piercings or just tattoos? People walking by would more inclined to get a piercing rather than a tattoo.

I can't really help with your specific questions, but I'd imagine insurance would be a killer. I assume the tattooists would be independent contractors? So legal fees would need to be considered also.

Gloomtastic!

With 8 stores to fill, I'd go back and renegotiate the rent. Remember the mantra is, 'If you're not embarrassed by your first offer, it's not low enough!' :P

Good luck!

Twenty Grand

Get a list of requirements from the shopping centre. You may be required to be open at certain times and have certain obligations that may not suit.

DubCount

OP. To answer your original question, you need to do up a budget on your expenditure - Equipment, signage, insurance, stock..... and see how much margin you expect to make. Be conservative/pessimistic. Many good businesses go to the wall because they don't have enough cash. If you think 30k is just about enough, you probably need 40k plus.

Good luck - I hope it works well for you.

jimmii

The rent is at the top end and hard to know if it would be worth it for you. As others say anyone looking for a tattoo is surely more likely to do research into it as opposed to just see a place in a shopping centre and impulse get one. Would it be possible to get a cheaper unit and spend that on advertising in the centre or somewhere else high volume? Might even be better to use the money online and use social media to target that audience.

In terms of general budgeting is that money your total bankroll or is that just for the business? Unless you have other income you would want to have the funds to cover personal expenses for at least 6 months and ideally a year as that really takes the pressure off the first year of the business. Another big factor is going to be the condition of the unit. You could easily tear through that getting the unit ready to open if it's been left in a bit of a state.

clint_silver

could you find a tattoo parlour in another town that isnt competing and ask them what they find are the pitfalls there.

Theres a small shopping centre in my town and theres been 4 different tattoo parlours there in the last 10 years so I always thought that theres a finite amount of work there as only so many people in a small town, therell be X amount of people wanting a tattoo, once they get it, that might be it.

How much repeat business you gonna get? Is it seasonal? could you offer other services like piercings?

Eric Cartman

a lot of times small shopping centres have upstairs office/ treatment space where people like dentists , beauticians etc.. operate out of. That would be a much better fit for that type of business I suspect.

joeguevara

Just a thought. As someone with more tattoos than most, I don’t think I would go into a tattoo parlor that was located in a shopping centre as it would appear too retail. Also, I would think (rightly or wrongly) that there would be an ethos of quantity rather than quality because of higher rents. Also, there may be a load of people coming in for a look around which may have a hectic atmosphere which is not what you want.

A tattoo parlor doesn’t need to be in a high footfall retail environment unless the model is for walk in quick pieces. Maybe I am wrong but just my thoughts.

There is a parkour though on the very top level of the Stephens green shopping centre that has a very good reputation. But that’s the only one I know of that is the exception to the rule.