Booth Rent VS Salon Suite - Which is for you?

Booth rent vs salon suite, which is better? Which one is for you?

Differences between Booth Rent vs Salon Suite

Renting a booth can be either renting a chair in an open salon floor space.

Renting a booth means that you have a room to yourself. But more often, booth renting means you have a chair in an open space shared with other renters or salon staff.

A room to yourself typically is a salon suite but depends on the definition by the owner.

The Pros and Cons of Booth Rent vs Salon Suite

There are pros and cons to booth rent vs salon suite rental. One may or may not be more perfect than the other but it just depends on what you are looking for as an entrepreneur in the hair industry.

Whether you are a cosmetologist, barber, hairstylist, nail tech, massage therapist, or any other specialty in the beauty industry, you get to choose if a booth rent vs salon suite is better for your needs and your business.

Pros of Booth Rent

For the sake of simplicity, this type of booth rent is in an open floor, chair rental, not a room to yourself.

You still feel like you’re “Part of the Team” even though you work for yourself
You don’t have to pay for the utilities (water, electricity, insurance, or the chair), the owner of the salon is responsible for providing those things
There’s no pressure to decorate your space to make it inviting for your guests, because in an open floor environment, the tone and esthetic of the shop are already established and decorated
Some booth rental shops will still have set hours for you to work and will book appointments for you, you may not need to bring a clientele and full books with you

Cons of Booth Rent

You may not always get to set your own scheduled hours
You don’t get to decorate the space
Walk-ins might not be booked with you first, but with a commission employee
If you don’t have big enough of a clientele to ensure your full-books, you are still paying for the amount of time you spend at the shop even if you’re not busy
You may not be able to set your own prices, depending on the rules and booth rental agreement

Is There an Advantage to Renting a Booth?

Renting a booth means that you might be paying slightly less than renting a salon suite, but are there other advantages?

If you are paying for your space, you could be making more money renting a chair, or a booth, than working for commission.

Working for commission is when you are paid a percentage of each service that you perform in the salon. So, the more services you can do, the higher your dollar per hour amount is and the more money you make.

You have to do the math to determine whether booth renting would be an advantage to you or not.

Say that you work for 40% commission, and you are able to do $2000 in services every week. 40% of 2000 is $800 for you every week before tips.

BUT

The cost of booth rent is typically anywhere between $250-$500 per week, and some salons charge monthly instead of weekly. If we do the math and use the same amount from above, if you are able to do $2000 in services per week, subtract the weekly rent, $500 (let’s use the high rent for simplicity’s sake). You get to keep $1500 before tips every week.

Again, to know if there is an advantage to booth renting for you or not, you have to do the math for yourself.

Booth Rent vs Commission- Which makes more money?

Pros of Renting a Salon Suite

It’s YOUR space, completely private
You get to decorate and bring the esthetic and vibe that YOU want
You set your own scheduled hours
You set your own prices
You decide which services you do or don’t perform (law and professional license permitting)
You get to choose the location of where you want to rent a suite

Cons of Renting a Salon Suite

You must ask permission before painting or hanging anything on the walls
You MUST have an established clientele and full books already before starting renting a salon suite
You are entirely responsible for marketing your business
All costs are yours to pay for… insurance, back-bar products, retail, rent, refunds
You provide your own scheduling system, and there is no receptionist to help you
Sometimes you have to pay for the wifi and utilities if they are not included in your rent

How Much Does Renting a Salon Suite Cost?

Depending on the city and location the typical rent for a salon suite is $250-500 USD per week. But as mentioned above, sometimes owners prefer rent to be paid monthly instead of weekly.

Questions to ask yourself BEFORE choosing Booth Rent vs Salon Suite

✔️ Do your clients need privacy? Does this space offer you the privacy and comfortability to offer your clients?

✔️ Are you comfortable with every aspect of your business? Are you prepared to handle the unexpected that might come up?

✔️ Do you have an established clientele and have full books or do you need walk-ins to stay busy?

✔️ Are you flexible enough to schedule your work around your life or vice versa?

✔️ Are you ready to start handling your business taxes as well as your personal taxes?

✔️ Can you market and strategize your own marketing for your business and run your own promotions?

✔️ Are you prepared for emergencies? If there is something in need of repair in the salon or if there is an economic recession do you know how to be prepared for that?

Are Salons Recession Proof? How to make your salon immune- 2022

Straight Out of Beauty School

However, if you are straight out of beauty school and are considering starting booth renting right away, I recommend not booth renting or renting a salon suite yet. You can! Just not yet.

Here’s why…

Which is More Common, Commission or Booth Rent?

When you are just starting out, working for commission is much more common than booth renting.

It’s better to work on commission for a salon that uses their own booking system, does the marketing for you, helps you build a clientele, and helps you gain experience before jumping straight into booth renting.