What does it really take to adapt, evolve, and build a “bulletproof” business in an ever-changing industry? Dion Borkowicz, owner of Lectric Beach Wellness and Sun Club, has navigated every era of the modern tanning industry, from its golden years to its turbulent times, and emerged stronger than ever. In the article below, Dion shares his behind-the-scenes account of how he evolved his business from a traditional tanning salon into a full-fledged wellness center. His story is equal parts business savvy, passion for the industry, and forward-thinking innovation, and it offers valuable insight for any salon owner looking to adapt and grow.

By Dion Borkowicz, Lectric Beach Wellness and Sun Club

I opened Lectric Beach in 1987, and during this time, I saw the ups and downs of the tanning industry. During the early years of the 21^st century, this industry was easy, successful and quite profitable. Lectric Beach had four locations in the Metro Milwaukee area, and we did well enough that I was able to move to Miami Beach and live there most of the time from 1997 to 2014. I had a general manager oversee my stores, and I flew up for a week every month or two to ensure operations were to my standards. During my time in Florida, I attended graduate school to be a professor of accounting, but I ended up just doing some part-time business consulting since it was difficult to get a teaching position while traveling back and forth between Miami and Milwaukee.

When the tanning tax started in mid-2010, our industry was severely affected. Around the same time, some large national fitness chains entered the Milwaukee market and added tanning to their services. Prior to 2010, few gyms offered tanning. And if they did, it was usually only a tanning unit or two. But around 2012, we started to see fitness centers basically incorporate a tanning salon inside the gym as these locations usually offered several tanning beds, some standups, and even included basic red light therapy. These gyms included tanning with low-price $20 per month gym memberships, and they were somehow able to mostly circumvent the tanning tax. For the first time since we opened my salons, sales started to decrease, and there were a few years that we finished in the red. In 2013, one of my salons had a gym open right next door, and within a couple of years, that salon closed. It is difficult to compete with free tanning, especially when the gym, and therefore the equipment, is all new.

This was a difficult time for me (and many salon owners) as we had to adjust to the tanning tax and a decrease in pay and profit. I moved back to Wisconsin in 2014 as I could no longer afford to live in two cities. I wasn’t sure of the direction of this industry, and therefore, I accepted a teaching position at a local university teaching a variety of undergrad and graduate school accounting and finance courses. It was during one of my cost accounting classes that a bell went off in my head, and I started to apply my education to the changes of the tanning industry.

While we can survive with just tanning, I feel to be successful (like we were in first decade of 21^st century), we needed to expand to other services. In 2016, shortly after closing the location affected by the gym, I decided to rebrand my salons. Before, our name was Lectric Beach Tanning Salon, but we changed our name to Lectric Beach Wellness and Sun Club. Instead of offering only UV tanning and spray tanning, we added basic red light beds, Poly high-intensity red light, and Cocoon sauna detox pods, all with the purpose of differentiating ourselves from the gyms and reaching a less competitive market. In 2018, I finally sold the condo that I had in South Florida and used the proceeds to replace the older basic tanning beds with high-end KBL units. Over the next few years, we added KBL 6800s, 5600s, 4800s, and Pure Energy capsules for a variety of high-performance equipment. I continued to advance our equipment, and in 2022, I purchased KBL’s P9S hybrid units for each location. This was a game changer, as it allowed a higher price per service, and we were able to upgrade many of our clients to our top tier EFT memberships. In 2024, we added a Smart Sun Therapy (SST) high intensity red light and near infrared unit to each location, which completely opened another market for us. And so far this year, we installed a HaloRed Salt therapy unit to each salon and added a second SST to our busiest location.

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