Tanning salon chain Indigo Sun has reported its best ever results, turning over more than £26m, with £5.6m worth of profit during its latest financial year.
The family-owned business noted that this profit figure was almost double the previous financial period, when performance was hampered by months of Covid lockdowns. However, the owners reckon the latest figures outstrip performance even in pre-Covid years.
Chief executive Frank Taylor, who set up the business in 1993 after running a chain of video rental stores., said: “As the economy reopened, our customers were determined to get back to normal and to go on holiday with great enthusiasm.
“That was a clear signal for our customers to return to our salons, and they did so in such numbers that during peak periods in 2022 we were serving 140,000 people a week.
“While those lockdown months were extremely tough, we used that time to look ahead; we set out plans to expand by 10 salons a year once business resumed.”
As well as opening new salons, the Stirling-headquartered group has also embarked on a refurbishment programme.
Between February 2020 and September 2022, Indigo Sun opened 14 new salons and refurbished another 10, with each refit costing an average £350,000. Of those 24 salons, 15 are in England and nine in Scotland.
This means the business now operates almost 100 tanning venues across the UK, employing 817 people.
Most of the venues are between 1,000 and 2000 sq ft and on average offer 12 tanning booths.
The recent strategy has been to set up new stores in retail parks on major arterial routes inside towns and cities.
Taylor explained: “Customers drive in and can see the full retail offering in front of them, be it a supermarket, a coffee shop or a pharmacy.
“They may spend as little as 30 minutes in these retail centres - including a sunbed session - and then head on their way.“
Currently stretching from Inverness to London, the group’s expansion plan will see it focus on towns or population centres with around 100,000 people.
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