While many tanning businesses are gravitating toward a more wellness-focused business model, few, if any, have gone all like Baja Beach of Berks County, Pennsylvania. In just the past year, owner Bridget Coe’s seven-figure investment in equipment and services for her four salon locations, in conjunction with a rebrand to Baja Beach Wellness, has completely redefined the operation. In a more direct financial sense, it’s also allowed her to create an ultra-premium $299 all-inclusive membership level, a massive step up from their former top level, which is now their second tier, at $89 per month.

The premium services that justify the pricey “Elite Beach” membership are the SmartSun Therapy SST28 and Trident Cryo cryotherapy. These additions are not just ancillary pieces of equipment but substantial profit drivers that are pivotal to the business’s rebranding and premium pricing approach.

“I can tell you there’s no other salon in the country doing what we’re doing and as big as we did it. We’re completely rebranding to the point of changing signage at the locations,” Coe says. “It’s a huge expansion project, transitioning from a tanning club to a wellness club. The two biggest pieces of equipment that fueled the rebrand are cryotherapy and SmartSun Therapy. We’ve had basic red light therapy years. We introduced Cocoon pods a while ago, and those have been very popular. But we needed something else to truly stop being just a tanning salon,” Coe says.

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