Island Sun Times

Splash TAN is aptly named, for the salon has made some waves in its hometown of Georgetown, TX, and continues to thrive.

Splash TAN opened a year ago after Darrell Suriff thought a tanning salon would be a good business for his wife, Jeri, to operate. It wasn’t long before Darrell soon fell in love with the fun, easygoing nature of the indoor tanning industry and Jeri soon found her husband working by her side more and more. In just a year’s time, the couple’s combined efforts helped make Splash TAN of Georgetown, TX a successful venture. Given the success they’ve enjoyed with their first salon, it should come as no surprise that the Suriff’s plan to open a second in October.

Career Move
A little over a year ago, Jeri Suriff was looking for a new career. At the time, she was a schoolteacher, and wanted something that offered a more exciting and relaxing pace. Her husband, Darrell, thought he knew just the thing she was looking for – owning and operating an indoor tanning salon. “Through my career in retail electronic management, I had met a Chicago salon owner who taught me quite a bit about the business,” Darrell recalled. “After that, Jeri and I decided to purchase memberships at five separate salons in our area to give us firsthand knowledge of what it was all about. We could tell right away that this was a business in which we’d be helping people to look and feel good, and Jeri was excited to become a part of it.” The couple decided to open a salon for Jeri to operate while Darrell chose to remain in his career in retail electronics.

Need Some Help, Honey?
Darrell and Jeri’s decision to become salon owners couldn’t have come at a better time – there was a new shopping center being built in Georgetown, and they leased space in the building, which gave them a prime location in their community. As to the décor, the Suriffs decided to aim high. “There are several tanning salons in Austin, TX, so we knew that we needed to differentiate ourselves, or we wouldn’t be noticed,” Darrell explained. “We decided to go with a high-end, modern look with vibrant colors, an open ceiling and concrete floors that are stained to look like sand. We have leather chairs in our lobby and plasma screen TVs, including a flat-panel TV in our spray tan room. The result is a very modern, high-end atmosphere.” Jeri took well to her new career and as business at the salon began to flourish, she found she wasn’t alone behind the counter – Darrell would come in to work after putting in 10 hours at his other job. “I was drawn to the fun, easygoing nature of salon ownership and I also fell in love with it,” he added.

Splash TAN has an impressive array of offerings in order to keep the tanners in Georgetown happy. The salon features 15 tanning units – two ETS Sunscape 755, two Sportarredo Mastersun 360, two ETS Starpower 548, two ETS Solaris 442, four ETS Solaris 332, an ETS Starpower 648 booth and a Sportarredo VegaLux Open booth. Splash Tan compliments its UV tanning services with a Magic Tan 3500 sunless spray booth. Lotion brands stocked at Splash TAN are Australian Gold/Swedish Beauty, California Tan, Designer Skin, Devoted Creations, Fiesta Sun, MySun, Squeeze Tanning and Vegas Tan. The salon operates using Helios software.

While Splash TAN also sells body jewelry, Darrell admits that the bulk of the salon’s retail dollars come from lotion sales. “We take a mass market approach to lotion sales,” Darrell said. “We believe that it’s important to always have the lotions our customers want in stock, so we purchase it in bulk and display lotions on the entire wall behind the counter that holds over 700 bottles. We’re able to sell a lot of lotion this way.”

Great Tan, Beautiful Smile!
Another successful service offered at Splash TAN is the White Science “SPA White” teeth whitening system which uses a combination of solution and a special light device. “I became interested in the system after seeing it at the Indoor Tanning Association World Expo 2006,” Darrell said. “We put a sign advertising the service in our salon’s window, and all of our advertisements feature half of the page dedicated to White Science. People were very interested in trying it, and we were very successful with it in our first year.” Seeing the popularity White Science had with their tanners, Darrell and his son Justin decided to become the Texas-area distributors for the system.

Big Break
As a relatively new salon, Darrell knew that he would have to get the word out in order for people to find Splash TAN. After trying several different promotional ideas, including paying top dollar for the salon’s name to top the list in Internet searches for tanning in the Austin area, Darrell discovered what worked best for his business. “We purchased advertising through our local movie theaters to have our name, phone number and website information on the screen before all movie times,” he said. “We’ve also found direct mailers to be very effective.” As a result, Splash TAN averaged 300 tanners per day during its first peak season, and about 70 a day during the off-peak months.

All in the Family
It’s been a great year for Darrell and Jeri – what started as a new career became a business that both she and her husband enjoy. What’s more, the salon is successful; so much so that the couple plans to make another Splash. “We’ve decided to open another location in Cedar Park, which is about 11 miles away from our original Splash TAN,” Darrell said. “It will open in October, and our son, Justin, said he’s very interested in helping to run it. We’re excited about how all this has come together, and welooking forward to expanding our business!”

Splash TAN has become a way of life for the entire Suriff family. While he still works as an electronics retail manager, Darrell says he loves salon ownership more and more, and is excited about his future in the industry. “I love it!” he exclaimed. “It's the only job I can think of that I’m excited to go to work, even if it’s on my day off from my day job selling electronics. I know almost all our clients by their first names and it’s a pleasure to be there and see so many happy people.”

Two years ago, Justin Andren realized he needed a career change. Introduced to indoor tanning by his wife, Lori, he decided to purchase a salon that was on the brink of failure. The two renovated the facility, and in no time Sun Splash Tan became one of Kernersville, North Carolina’s busiest businesses. Justin and Lori couldn’t be happier with the success they’ve achieved, even if that quick success has affected their future plans – the couple now needs to expand Sun Splash in order to house enough tanning units to keep up with the growing demands of their business. As far as the Andrens are concerned, this is a good “problem” to have!

A People Person
Prior to becoming a salon owner, Justin Andren worked cleaning up gas and oil tank leaks with the environmental services company he co-founded with some acquaintances. The job certainly kept him busy, but four years of this work began to take its toll on Justin, who by nature is friendly and outgoing. “It was very lonely work,” he commented. “The only time I came in contact with people was in a negative situations – we were inconveniencing their business while we cleaned up the spill – and that got old very quickly. I had always wanted to go into business for myself, and I felt the time was right to make a switch.” Justin’s wife Lori has been an indoor tanner since she was a teenager, and she turned her husband into a sun worshipper when he’d need a tan for vacations. In indoor tanning, Justin saw a fun, exciting business that he’d like to be a part of, so he began researching the industry.

Purchase, Remodel, Re-Open …
When Justin and Lori made the decision to become salon owners, they wanted it to happen rather quickly. With other competing salons nearby, they felt that they didn’t have the time to build a business from scratch, so the couple purchased an existing salon, instead. “The previous owner had many other business interests, so he didn’t have the time to focus on his salon and as a result, the cleanliness and customer service suffered,” Justin explained. “The salon was beginning to get a bad reputation in town because it was very dirty and the equipment and sunlamps needed to be replaced; but the place had a great location in downtown Kernersville, and we knew it had potential.” After purchasing the business, Justin and Lori rolled up their sleeves, applied a little elbow grease to the dirt, dust and grime that had accumulated outside and inside the salon’s sunbeds, and got the place ready to open, which they did in October 2005.

Just by walking into Sun Splash Tan, it becomes easy to see that the Andren’s hard work paid off. Today, the couple runs a clean salon with eight tanning units – a SunDash R26B, a SunDash SD2, two SunDash Competition 226, a SunDash Genesis 232, one Sun Capsule XL, a Dr. Kern CX323, and the salon’s top bed – the Ergoline Ambition 300 Turbo. The salon also features the Norvell sunless airbrush tanning system, offers lotions by Australian Gold/Swedish Beauty, Designer Skin, Emerald Bay, Fiesta Sun and Supre, and operates using the Sun Focus software system.

The Andrens credit their relationship with American Sun Systems for helping Sun Splash Tan become the success that it is. “In all my years in business, I’ve never seen vendors who were as committed to our success as the staff at American Sun Systems,” Justin commented. “Our sales rep, Christine Chapman, makes us feel like we’re her only customer, and we appreciate everything they’ve done for us in the short time we’ve known them.”

Into the Light
Purchasing an existing salon has benefits, but it has drawbacks, too, as Justin and Lori soon found out after opening Sun Splash Tan. “This is a small town, and word gets around very quickly, so we had our work cut out for us trying to overcome the reputation of the salon’s previous owner,” Justin explained. “We took out newspaper ads, participated in coupon mailers and sponsored various events at our local high schools, but nothing worked better at bringing people back to the salon than when I hung a sign that read ‘Under New Ownership’ in the front window. I let that sign hang for nine months after we opened so people would know that things are different.”

Leaving that sign out for as long as he did actually helped Sun Splash – at first, only a few customers started to trickle in, but they must have told people who in turn must have told others. Soon, the couple built their database to include more than 3,000 customers. Apparently, good word travels just as quickly in a small town, and Sun Splash Tan was able to get out from under the shadow of the salon’s previous ownership!

Still Growing
Justin and Lori are pleased with the success and popularity of Sun Splash Tan, but it’s also presented them with a problem. “We’re at the point where eight tanning units won’t accommodate our growing client base, but we’ve used every square inch of this store!” Justin exclaimed. “We either have to expand our current location or relocate – either way, we’re happy that our community has embraced our business and continues to support it!”

Almost two years ago, Justin sold his interests in a business he helped start to become a tanning salon owner. The decision, he says, remains among the best he’s ever made. “I’m a people person – I love to talk with people and get to know them, which was something missing from my previous career,” he commented. “I love what I’m doing now, and I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”