--- title: "Sola Salons Franchise" url: https://burnaze.com/article/a4bb932a-c3dc-4734-82e9-953b0e639238 source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/how-sola-salons-supports-franchisees-with-strategic-real-estate-decisions-2728157 category: "Hair & salon suites" industry: "Beauty & Wellness" segment: "Hair & salon suites" published: 2024-12-23T13:08:21.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T01:02:47.873Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/6a65572a6e2b614f15c97cfe49c761175554.jpg --- # Sola Salons Franchise **TL;DR:** Sola Salons has developed a system to help franchisees make informed real estate decisions using data-driven insights and collaborative support. The system analyzes salon density, stylist demographics, and customer patterns to identify optimal trade areas. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2024-12-23. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/how-sola-salons-supports-franchisees-with-strategic-real-estate-decisions-2728157).* ## Story Finding the right real estate is critical for franchisees’ success, and with Sola Salons, the nation’s largest salon suites franchise, this selection process is even more important. Sola Salons franchisees must choose a site that caters to both their primary customers, the Sola Pros, and the Sola Pros’ clients, who are the end users, making the right site choice even more important. As such, Sola Salons has developed a robust system that uses data-driven insights and collaborative support to help franchisees make informed, strategic real estate decisions. “We have a real estate oversight model,” said Dan Ogiba, vice president of real estate. “We’re not directly doing the lease negotiation or construction work on behalf of the franchisees; we’re there in a support role. We take them step by step through all of their processes from day one of looking at their market all the way through signing their lease and building out their location.” This hands-on approach is designed to simplify the complex real estate process while equipping franchisees with the tools to make confident decisions. A cornerstone of Sola’s real estate strategy is data-driven decision-making. The team analyzes salon density, stylist demographics and customer patterns to identify optimal trade areas. “We start with a broad market view and a data-driven approach to the market to look at where the consumer profile is most prevalent and located within the market,” Ogiba said. “Sola works in a lot of different kinds of trade areas,” said Ken Ahern, director of real estate and market analysis. “This isn’t a situation where we just say, ‘We need this many people with this kind of income within X number of miles.’ It’s a little more complicated than that because we want a stylist to feel comfortable making a move for their business, and they need to be comfortable asking their clientele to follow them. We’re interested in two key groups of people, so we look at some more out-of-the-box variables.” Ahern said that, while things like strong population densities and demographics with notable disposable income are generally beneficial for any business, Sola takes it a step further and analyzes things like where current salon employment is clustered and what proximate areas a beauty professional might reasonably consider relocating to. While these data tools are an important part of the selection process, the franchisee remains involved, providing their own insights and applying local expertise to the process. “When we have a kickoff call with a new franchisee, it’s usually me, the real estate team and some operations people,” Ahern said. “We do a market review, and we look through a map of the market. I give the franchisee my take based on what I know about the data and what our build-out plan could look like, but I always qualify that statement with the fact that this is the 30,000-foot view of the data. I don’t always have that local knowledge, but one of my favorite things is when I finish my presentation, and the franchisee says, ‘That’s exactly what I was thinking!’” One of Sola’s unique advantages is its site selection flexibility. Unlike some retail brands that require specific configurations, Sola can adapt to a variety of spaces. “We’re still running the same mapping to determine where the location should be, but we’re looking for different types of sites,” said Sam Williams, real estate manager. “With Sola, we can be a little bit more flexible with the types of centers that we’re in. We love to be in a center with co-tenants that generally cater to women like certain retail brands and fitness studios, but we can be a lot more flexible in terms of the exact location; we can take a corner space, a second-floor space or other sometimes difficult to lease spaces.” Ogiba adds that Sola prioritizes locations that align with the “daily needs path” of the beauty professionals’ clients. Proximity to grocery stores, daycare centers and other daily destinations enhances convenience for clients. “It’s great to be part of their day-to-day journey,” Ogiba said. In addition to real estate assistance, Sola provides franchisees with construction support. “We have an integrated construction department within our development team,” Ogiba said. “They assist franchisees as they’re searching for their sites to understand the overall space and conditions within the space, which is very helpful to franchisees. The team is there to support through discussions and negotiations with landlords and work through the process with their general contractors to move the process along more quickly, find potential cost savings opportunities, and get the location open and operating.” With end-to-end support, the Sola Salons franchise team ensures owners have the insights, expertise and guidance they need throughout the entire process to have a successful site selection and build-out process. With nearly 740 locations and ambitious growth plans, Sola’s team is committed to ensuring franchisees thrive. “We’re aggressively pursuing additional opportunities while being very conscious of optimizing studio availability,” said Ogiba. By combining data, market expertise and collaborative planning, Sola equips franchisees with the resources and confidence they need to succeed. From selecting the right location to building a market plan, Sola’s real estate support system exemplifies its dedication to franchisee success. “It’s all about setting our franchisees up for success,” Williams said. ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - Beauty & Wellness (sector) - franchisee success (topic) - Sola Salons (company) - site selection (topic) - real estate support (topic) - data driven decision making (topic) - Dan Ogiba (person) - Ken Ahern (person) - Sam Williams (person) - construction support (topic) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/how-sola-salons-supports-franchisees-with-strategic-real-estate-decisions-2728157). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/a4bb932a-c3dc-4734-82e9-953b0e639238).