Shell Kalka and Jim Kalka, Jr., Coconut Tan

When Shell Kalka’s teenage dream finally became reality, she knew she wanted to do right by Coconut Tan. Her goal of owning five stores in five years is close to coming to fruiting, but the journey has required a lot of work and risk.

Her first store opened in 2010 when she purchased a poorly run salon that wasn’t even for sale. A complete makeover of the business turned it into a profitable and professional location. Shell tells Smart Tan more about her experience expanding the business to its current four locations:

Only a year after opening our first location, we opened up a second sort of by accident. I went to a salon to check out a tanning bed they had for sale and ended up buying the whole salon. During the same time we adopted a five-month-old baby and my father had taken ill. Things were crazy for a long time since I was trying to spend time with my family while doing this buildout. In 2012 my dad passed away and a designed and built out a third location near a college with the help of a consultant.

The fourth location just opened on Black Friday 2013. Just like the second location, I went to look at a bed and ended up buying the whole salon. We ended up doing a complete renovation at the same time that I Jim and I were building a home. I wasn’t even in the market for my fourth location when I purchased it, but I bought it and opened up six months later. I just threw myself face first into this industry right as it began to change.

Before this, I really just enjoyed starting up businesses, getting them going and selling them. But I love tanning, the tools available to me and the people in this industry.