Once upon a time there was a tanning salon. In it was a magical castle of sand, and a treasure chest with goodies for all the tanners of the land. Ok, any tanning salon owner knows that owning a tanning is way more reality than fairy tale, but Baja Beach customers truly are greeted by a huge sand castle. In fact, the castle is the starting point of every tour, and at the end, customers can find lotion gold in the treasure chest.

It’s all because Baja Beach owners want their customers to feel like they’re getting a bit of a beach vacation every time they step into the salon. “We’re the biggest salon in the Lehigh Valley, so we offer more options to our customers,” says owner Andrea Tobias. Indeed, with 3,200 square feet and 26 units—UV, sunless and LED—there’s something for everyone. And that’s intentional, says Andrea. “We’ve diversified over the years, always looking at what we can do to keep our revenue up and our customers happy, as the industry and the business changes.”

The Tobias family has a long tanning history in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Andrea and husband Dave purchased the store from the founder of Baja Beach 11 years ago. Their daughter, Lori Yeingst, is a 15-year industry veteran who managed the Baja Beach store in Reading for four years before stepping into leadership of the Allentown salon.

Lori handles the in-salon customer-facing duties such as hiring, training and managing the myriad details involved in daily operations. Dave is the handy-guy who orders bulbs, changes them out, and handles maintenance issues. And most of the time Andrea is the woman behind the curtain holding down the fort. While she’s not in the store every day and works a full-time job as well, she does spend at least one weekday in the salon and a weekend day when it’s busy. “I write all the checks, and do the marketing, the advertising, the taxes. I order the products and do everything else on the business back end.”

Their shared focus is a practiced combination of education and training, promotion and high standards that lead to their overall goal: a profitable salon with professionally educated staff and happy, tanned and beachified customers.

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine.