Number of UK beauty salons grown by almost 25% in five years

The number of beauty salons in the UK has grown by 24.8% since 2017, with an increase of 2,121 units in the past five years, according to new statistics.

The report from the Local Data Company, analysed by The British Beauty Council, looked at openings and closures across a range of categories. 

It found that nail salons have seen an increase in numbers of 29.4%, thanks to the opening of 938 new units since 2017, making it the third-best performing sector in the hair and beauty industry in terms of unit growth. 

Tanning shops, however, saw a drop, with a net unit change of -2.2% over the same period.

Beauty retail stores took the biggest hit over the five-year period, with a loss of 30.9% of department stores, thanks to the closure of several department store groups, including BHS and Debenhams. Over 40% of these lost units came from the closure of Debenhams stores between 2019-2021.

Chemists and toiletry shops also faced significant closures, with a loss of 1,141 units, totalling a 9.8% net unit change. 

The data revealed that, compared to other industries, the hair and beauty market has performed well, with a combined growth of 5.4% overall.

This is in stark contrast to the GB total across all industries, which was an average loss of 6.9% of units. 

As well as analysing units, the Local Data Company also revealed the net change of vacancies – empty store or salon units – between January 2017 and December 2021.

Beauty salons saw a 3.1% increase in site vacancies, growing from 4.2% to 7.3% over the five-year period. Nail salons also saw an increase from 2.6% to 4.9%.

Cosmetic surgery clinics faced the second-highest increase when it comes to vacancy rates, with 8.9% growth between 2018 and 2021, behind department stores, which saw a 16.7% increase.

Despite none of the categories seeing a decrease in vacancies, the hair and beauty industry still performed better than the GB total, with a 2.9% increase compared to 3.3% nationally.

Click here to discover how to find beauty therapists willing to work weekends.

 

Don’t miss: How collaborative workspaces are shaking up the hair and beauty industry.