Name: Bahama Breezez
* Location: Next door to Tractor Supply on Sequoyah Road in Soddy-Daisy
* Products/services: The store provides what its owner, Sherry Layne, calls a “very relaxing” tanning experience. The store provides multiple varieties of tanning, including stand-up machines, jumbo beds for larger individuals and regular beds. She also sells lotions and tanning oils, goggles and other tanning apparel. Layne, a pastor at Hamilton Pointe church, charges $32.78 for a month of unlimited tanning.
* Age: The company opened its doors Aug. 2.
* Startup investment: $20,000
* Target market: Primarily women, but people of all ages use tanning salons, Layne said. Couples, men and people with medical conditions will often use the machines, she said, on the advice of their doctors.
* Biggest hurdle: The biggest hurdle was the business transaction of getting started, Layne said. She was required to purchase three types of business licenses and pay multiple types of taxes just to open her doors, she said, not including fees and taxes she found out about after opening.
* Biggest reward: “We’ve made a lot of friends” since opening the store, she said, and she’s gotten closer to her friends and family, who have assisted her with the salon.
* Challenges in the future: She plans to replace every bed at Bahama Breezez with newer versions that provide what marketers call regenerative benefits.
* Lesson learned: “I wish I had known the whole truth of knowing all the ins and outs of owning a tanning salon,” Layne said. “Like all your surprise costs, as far as licensing, permits and taxes.”
* Five-year goal: She would like to have three tanning salons operating under her brand within five years.
Contact Ellis Smith at esmith@timesfreepress.com or (423) 757-6315.