Wildbend Funding Group, a small-business funding service in Newark, Ohio, explains how Licking County, OH stylists and salon owners fund a salon suite, chairs and stations, or a second location. Nonemployer Statistics counted 347 beauty salons with no payroll in 2024, while County Business Patterns counted 32 with employees in 2023 (separate programs and years). That mix shapes which funding fits.
A solo-heavy trade
Licking County, OH had 32 beauty salon employer establishments in 2023, and 62.5% had fewer than five employees (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Nonemployer Statistics counted 347 beauty salons and 97 nail salons with no payroll in 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024), a separate program and year. Nonemployers are solo operators with no payroll, and some of them may rent a chair or a suite rather than run a shop with staff.
How to buy into a salon suite
A salon suite is a private, lockable room leased inside a larger building, sometimes with shared reception and laundry. The stylist runs a business inside it. A search for how to buy a salon suite can mean one of two things: leasing a suite for your own business, or buying a suite building as an investor. This post covers the first; buying the building is a commercial real estate question that Wildbend does not arrange.
- Up-front costs: security deposit, first rent payment, chair, station, shampoo bowl, dryer, products and any décor the lease allows.
- Ongoing costs: weekly or monthly suite rent, products, insurance and booking software.
- Check the lease: term, what is included, whether you can bring your own equipment, and what happens if you leave early.
Salon equipment loan: chairs, stations and dryers
Styling chairs, shampoo stations, hood dryers, pedicure chairs and ventilation are financed through equipment financing, with the equipment as collateral. For a single suite, the amounts are modest, and some owners use a small line of credit or cash instead. Pedicure chairs with plumbing are a larger purchase, and installation may be quoted separately.
Illustration only, with invented figures: two styling chairs, a shampoo station and a hood dryer totalling $7,800, with $800 down, financed over 24 months at an assumed annual rate of 12, is about $330 a month and about $8,710 in total cost including the down payment. At an average service of $65, that is roughly five services a month. Not an offer.
How to get a business loan for a salon in Licking County, OH
Partners look at the business, not just the chair. A stylist moving from a commission chair to a suite has a client list but may not yet have a business bank account history; a salon owner adding a second location has records to show. Prepare:
- Bank statements for the business, or for the account where your service income lands.
- A client count and average ticket from your booking software.
- The suite lease or the new location's lease.
- Equipment quotes.
A business with no operating history is a startup request, which Wildbend does not target. An established stylist moving into a suite, or an existing salon expanding, is a different file.
Opening a second salon location
A second location combines a build-out, equipment and a ramp-up period while new chairs fill. A term loan usually funds the build-out; equipment financing covers chairs and stations; working capital carries rent and wages for the first months. Confirm zoning and permits before signing; the Newark, Ohio zoning checklist lists the questions.
Local context
11 of the county's 32 beauty salon employers had a ZIP 43055 address in 2023 (U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023). Salons, nail salons and other personal-care businesses have short notes on the industries page; city and county counts are on the Newark, OH data page.
By Wildbend Funding Group · Updated