Relocating (Boise, Mountain Home, Clark Fork: hair salon, 2013, rent)
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My husband and I are in the process of moving to Idaho. I am an African American(Jamaican) and my husband is White. I am a licensed nail technician have worked in that field for 11 years. I would like to know the possibility of owning my own Nail/Hair salon that specializes in dreads and natural hair care for blacks, and all nail care services, such as acrylics nails, pink and white acrylics, gel and sculpture nails and hand painted designs. Would this be a suitable business to do in that area for a young black woman?:Would it be better to look at places as Boise, Mountain Home and Spokane or CDA? Thanx in advance.
You really need to look at the demographics of Idaho (and Spokane for that matter). A business that caters to black people is going to have a very small clientele by nature of limited racial diversity in this region. I'm not saying you couldn't succeed, but you'd certainly need to capture a LOT of the black population since it's such a minute percentage of the populace. Now the nail salon part I can see working as you're hitting a broad demographic...
What Did YOU FIND when RESEARCHING the AREA and CURRENT BUSINESSES, Sasseyann1?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle
You really need to look at the demographics of Idaho (and Spokane for that matter). A business that caters to black people is going to have a very small clientele by nature of limited racial diversity in this region. I'm not saying you couldn't succeed, but you'd certainly need to capture a LOT of the black population since it's such a minute percentage of the populace. Now the nail salon part I can see working as you're hitting a broad demographic...
I agree with Sage. I'm always a little surpsed when people planning to open new businesses haven't researched the stats for themselves. They aren't hard to review, especially those on CDF.
Sasseyann1, I'd encourage you to look at the demographics of the area where you and your husband decide is best for the two of you. If you're opening a business, go to the business statistics information and get the breakdowns on age groups, dollars spent for various classifications of business, and % plus hard numbers of how many black folks would be in the area you would service.
Try and Seattle and Portland first. Boise and Spokane next. CDA is quite small. If you are moving b/c your husband's work and your business is as much about community as profits, then you may find success (with a few changes in the business model) in places where the demographics are not favorable. However, you should do so with feet planted firmly on the ground. Consider diversifying your offerings for a different demographic.
If I can generalize a bit, Jamaicans have a great entrepreneurial spirit. The area is transforming. With some vision and adjustment, there will be opportunities of some kind.
I don't know if there is sufficient African-American hair in the area to support a business. All races of people get their nails done, but it is an outdoor sports area, so you don't see acrylic nails at nearly the numbers that you see acrylic nails in some of the big cities. Acrylic nails interfere with gutting a fish.
However, there will be some women who get their nails done. I suggest that you get into Google and do some research into how many salons do acrylic nails, to see how much competition there is and how many salons the area is currently supporting.
If you are moving to Mountain home, find out if there is a salon on-base and maybe you could get hired on there, to test the waters before you open your own salon. Opening a salon is expensive and on top of that, you can expect to support a brand new business for a year or two until it builds up enough clientele to generate a "living wage" cash flow.
Or another idea. rent a station in an established salon and do your specialty hair care in a salon that is not limited to African American clients. There might be enough business to support one beauty station. There are African Americans in Idaho, just maybe not sufficient population to support businesses that are just for them and not for anyone else.
I would like to know where did you decide to place your business?
Welcome to the forum! You'll get used to checking the time frame of threads and discussions. It's probably useless to ask a question of the OP (original poster) because she hasn't been active since 2013, and the thread is from 2009.
........the OP (original poster) because she hasn't been active since 2013, and the thread is from 2009.
Maybe so, but I always figure that the only reason an old thread gets brought up is because someone else is interested in the topic. If there was no interest, the topic would have stayed buried forever.
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What Did YOU FIND when RESEARCHING the AREA and CURRENT BUSINESSES, Sasseyann1?
