Quick Tan Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

Dublin, GA. Quick Tan, Inc., headquartered in Dublin, GA celebrates its 10-year anniversary on April 27, 2004.

The company has grown from its humble beginnings of one salon location with four tanning units to a chain of four tanning salons with a total of thirty-eight tanning units as well as a full service travel agency.

Quick Tan President, John Blount conceived the idea of starting a full service tanning salon shortly after relocating to Dublin from nearby Macon, Georgia. He had been accustomed to tanning at a first class salon in Macon and was disappointed when he found there to be no tanning salons in a town the size of Dublin, with almost 40,000 residents within the surrounding area. Tanning at the time was provided as an add-on service at the local beauty salons, without the level of service Blount had come to expect. The company continues its original focus of providing full service tanning and does not offer beauty or nail services that could detract from its mission of providing each customer with consistently superior service and the finest facilities in its market areas.

The secret to the success and growth of the company has been the commitment to superior customer service, provided in sparkling clean, well maintained salons. “Our customers deserve the best service and the ability to achieve the best results for their money” according to Blount. “The reason we have not grown beyond our existing four locations is because we want to ensure the Quick Tan and Key West Tanning Salon names offer consistent service and quality. By concentrating three of our four salons within a few miles of one another, we are better able to accomplish that goal.” The fourth salon is located in Lexington, SC and is managed by a sister of one of the owners who shares the owners’ passion for customer service.

Shortly after opening Quick Tan in April 1994 with four tanning units, a competitor opened a salon only one mile away. This salon, Key West Tanning Salon, became Quick Tan’s first acquisition only one year later. In its efforts to accommodate the needs of its customers, the name was left unchanged, while the salon was upgraded and computerized.

The next growth opportunity occurred in 1999 when the company opened World Travel, a full service travel agency to provide its tanning clientele additional value by providing complementary travel services.

Quick Tan’s only expansion outside the Dublin, Georgia market occurred during September 2000 with the acquisition of the Solar Eclipse Tanning Salon in Lexington, South Carolina. The idea to acquire the salon occurred as the owners were negotiating the purchase of the equipment in a salon that had recently closed. It seemed more responsible to reopen the salon than to simply remove the equipment.

The last expansion occurred in late December 2001 when the company built a new salon in Dublin after attempts to expand the original Quick Tan location proved unsuccessful due to lack of cooperation with its landlord. “In retrospect, it was a much better decision to open a new salon in the location chosen than expanding the original salon. The Hillcrest Parkway location is more convenient for many of our customers”, according to Blount. As an example to the owners commitment to provide superior service to its customers, they decided to risk expanding even in the midst of uncertainty after the September 11, 2001 attacks and the country’s recession because its customer base had outgrown the capacity of the two salons serving Dublin during the busy season. Recently, this salon began offering airbrush UV free tanning due to increasing demand from customers.

The company will conduct several different promotions during the month of April to celebrate its 10 year anniversary, with many chances for customers to win over $15,000 in free visits and merchandise. Many of the company’s lotion suppliers, such as John Abate, Designer Skin, Supre, California Tan, Supre, Glimera, Australian Gold and Swedish Beauty are contributing to these promotions. Wolff Systems has also agreed to participate.

Quick Tan in the Wal-mart Shopping Center in Dublin is open from 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Monday – Friday and 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Key West Tanning Salon, located in the Williamsburg Village Shopping Center, and Quick Tan on Hillcrest Parkway in Dublin as well as Quick Tan in Lexington, SC are open from 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Monday – Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

World Travel is open from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday – Friday.