Desert Sun Tanning, a Seattle-based indoor tanning salon chain, has announced expansion plans to open 20 locations in San Diego through franchise ownership, in addition to the first location recently opened by Tim Hatch  in the Pacific Beach area. Desert Sun’s expansion furthers its focus on West coast development, specifically California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and British Columbia.

“San Diego is primed and ready for Desert Sun through local franchise ownership,” says Bareq Peshtaz, vice president of franchise sales. “Our track record in markets with similar demographics combined with the dramatic growth and acceptance of indoor tanning makes Desert Sun Tanning salons a lucrative business venture for entrepreneurs who are interested in developing our concept throughout San Diego.”

In addition to creating a business ownership opportunity for a local entrepreneur, each new Desert Sun location will contribute to San Diego’s economy by creating new jobs and providing area residents with the best in full service tanning and product offerings. With expansion into San Diego, approximately 125 new jobs will be created.

“We take a focused and hands-on approach to growing our business,” Peshtaz says. “It’s not about how many total locations we can open in one year. It’s about how many successful locations we can open.”

Already a big player in the $5 billion tanning industry, Desert Sun is fueling interest in its development plans with a cutting-edge, client-centric salon design for franchise owners.

“We continue to have incredible success at each of our locations and are excited to be expanding into San Diego,” Peshtaz says. “There is a very strong demographic and cultural base for tanning in this market. If experience has taught us anything it is that, once we open up a location, our clients return time and time again to enjoy the upscale tanning salon experience of Desert Sun.”

The franchise fee to operate a Desert Sun is $50,000 with an initial investment of $333,300 to $622,500 (including franchise fee).

“Prospective franchise owners for Desert Sun should have the capacity to create and manage an organization that effectively recruits, trains, motivates and retains employees,” Peshtaz says. “It is our job to teach owners how to operate a successful tanning salon. We want to be the leader in upscale tanning by creating a high degree of customer loyalty that sets us apart from our competition in the marketplace.”

For more information about salon franchising, read the LOOKING FIT article, "Salon Startup: Franchise Facts."