Main salon model welcomes first clients to new £350K Barrhead department

BRITAIN’s largest sunbed chain has launched its newest salon at a extremely anticipated new Scottish retail park.

The high-spec salon was among the many first shops to begin welcoming clients to the complicated in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, following a £350,000 funding by Indigo Solar.

Previously the location of a pet meals manufacturing facility, the Barrhead Retail Park web site had lain vacant for 15 years previous to its transformation – and is now set to see a bunch of huge title retail and meals shops open within the coming weeks.

Frank Taylor, founder and CEO of the household agency, which now operates greater than 100 salons throughout the UK, stated the £15m new web site was perfect for Indigo Solar’s ongoing growth ambitions.

He stated: “The Barrhead web site is ideal for us. It serves a big catchment space, supply intensive parking and the number of companies primarily based right here ensures that it will likely be a massively fashionable vacation spot constructed round buyer comfort.

“Every thing now could be about location. We’re on the lookout for retail websites in cities which are on primary arterial routes, supply free parking and have entry to a various vary of different shops – Barrhead Retail Park ticks all the containers.

“We’re thrilled to be a part of this rejuvenation of such an essential web site for the city. It offers us a very great presence on this a part of Scotland and we intend to construct on that.”

The brand new salon, fitted out with 13 hi-tech sunbeds and a high-end seashore membership aesthetic, turns into the fourth in a cluster inside a 10-mile radius together with Paisley, Linwood and Glasgow. Throughout the 4 salons there are 24 employees.

Indigo Solar’s ongoing growth has been fuelled by good investments in comparable websites throughout the UK, with its salons including to the variety of areas that are usually anchored by a giant -name grocery store, augmented by meals retailers and different shops together with pharmacies and gymnasiums.

The reinvention of the Barrhead web site – a former Nestle Purina manufacturing facility which lay derelict for 15 years – is a serious boon for the world. It features a new Lidl, B&M, Starbucks, Gateway Well being and the primary Scottish department of famend US meals outlet, Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen.

Earlier this yr, Indigo Solar reported its most profitable yr ever, recording a turnover of greater than £26m and nearly £5.6m revenue in its newest monetary yr.

Throughout lockdown Frank and his senior crew drew up bold growth plans to make sure Indigo Solar emerged from the pandemic on the absolute best footing.

Because the nation returned to regular, the tanning enterprise was serving as much as 140,000 individuals every week at peak time and figures confirmed typical clients had been investing £500 per yr into tanning.

Frank added: “We’ve confirmed that once we put our salons into handy areas, near a big selection of different shops and with straightforward parking, the British individuals love treating themselves to a secure and wholesome tan.

“One more reason our salons are rising in recognition is due to the associated fee and complexity of the gear. Fashionable sunbeds now have options comparable to Bluetooth in order that clients can join their telephones and play their very own selection of music.

“In addition they have subtle aircon methods and sensitivity settings for particular pores and skin sorts. Our salons even have extra sunbeds put in to scale back ready instances and devoted employees with an in-depth data on using sunbeds.”

With its youthful buyer base and enormous foot fall, Indigo Solar is now a chief goal for retail developments like Barrhead, that are inside city or metropolis limits, however sit exterior of conventional city centres.

Throughout the UK the agency, which is headquartered in Stirling, is concentrating on its growth on cities or populations centres of at the very least 100,000 individuals. In greater cities, it’ll look to create clusters of salons, for extra streamlined administration.

Serial entrepreneur Frank arrange the enterprise after operating a profitable chain of video rental shops.

Early on he noticed the menace posed by DVDs and on-line streaming, so exited the enterprise and

reworked his retailers into tanning salons as an alternative.

The primary was launched in Stirling in 1993. He’s a passionate advocate of secure tanning and supporter of business organisation The Sunbed Affiliation, which seeks to battle misinformation about tanning salons and indoor tanning gear. He additionally highlights the health-giving properties of secure tanning, significantly with regard to vitamin D.

At the moment stretching from Inverness to London, Indigo Solar is closing in on 100 tanning venues throughout the UK and employs 950 individuals. A lot of the salons are 1000-2000 sq ft and on common supply 12 tanning cubicles.