Whiteside Finance sends each request to funding partners, and the partner makes the decision.
Hair, nail and barber shops in Redwood City, CA can match each purchase to a product: chairs and machines to equipment financing, booth rent gaps to working capital, furnishings and shelving to a term loan.
At a glance
- Beauty Salons (NAICS 812112), San Mateo County, CA
202 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- Nail Salons (NAICS 812113), San Mateo County, CA
125 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- Beauty salons with no paid employees, San Mateo County, CA
1,131 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024)
- Beauty and nail salons at ZIP 94063 addresses
10 and 8 employer establishments (ZBP 2023)
Business loan for hair salon around San Mateo County, CA: suite furnishings, color bars and station upgrades
A hair salon that wants to grow inside its own lease has three common purchases. Suite furnishings give each stylist who rents a private room a chair, a station and a mirror. A color bar is a mixing station with storage carts and processing equipment. A station upgrade replaces styling stations, chairs, mirrors and dryers. Each is a one-time cost with a vendor quote, which points to a term loan with fixed payments. Building suite walls, plumbing a sink or bowl, or buying the space is property work outside this site.
Plenty of these shops are small. San Mateo County, CA counted 202 establishments under Beauty Salons (NAICS 812112) in 2023; 139 of them, or 68.8%, had a staff of four or fewer (CBP).
Hair salon financing for San Mateo County, CA: lash beds, facial steamers and a storefront sign
Lash beds, facial steamers, magnifying lamps and the sign over the door are small purchases one at a time, but together they can make a single equipment financing request. A partner reads one vendor quote more easily than four receipts, so bundling them on one quote helps.
Illustration only, invented figures: two lash beds, two facial steamers, a lit sign for the door and a magnifying lamp come to $9,600 on one quote. On three years of equipment financing at an annual rate of 12.5%, the salon would owe $321.15 each month, and the 36 installments come to $11,561.40.
A lit sign fixed to the outside wall can need the landlord’s consent, so a copy of that consent belongs with the quote.
Barber shop loan for San Mateo County, CA: barber chairs, clippers and booth rent gaps
Hydraulic barber chairs last for years and carry a resale value, which makes them a fit for equipment financing. Clippers, trimmers and blades are small and wear out, so paying for them out of a credit line or cash flow makes more sense than financing them one by one.
Booth rent is the other side of a barber shop’s cash. When a barber who rents a chair leaves, the rent stops, but the shop’s own lease does not. Working capital can cover the stretch until the chair is rented again.
Illustration only, invented figures: a shop rents chairs at $1,150 a month each. 2 chairs sit empty for 3 months, so $6,900 of expected rent never arrives. That amount, and the month the shop expects the chairs to fill, is what a working capital request would put forward.
Nail salon loan for San Mateo County, CA: mirrors, stations and a second chair row
A nail salon’s equipment is built around the stations: pedicure thrones, manicure tables, client chairs and polish racks at each table, mirrors and lighting. Adding a second chair row is largely equipment; running water and drains to the new thrones inside the leased space is plumbing work outside this site.
Illustration only, invented figures: 4 pedicure thrones at $6,200 each and 4 manicure tables at $1,380 each make a $30,320 quote. On a 48-month agreement at an annual rate of 11%, the salon pays $783.64 a month, $37,614.72 over the agreement.
For 2023, County Business Patterns put 125 establishments under Nail Salons (NAICS 812113) in San Mateo County, CA, and their annual payroll was $16.7 million. Under five employees was the size of 74 nail salons in that count.
Hair salon loans for San Mateo County, CA: dryers, product orders and station upgrades
Hood dryers and blow-dry stations are equipment. Product orders are not: shampoo, color and the bottles on the retail shelving are stock that sells and is replaced. A credit line can pay for a larger product order and be paid down as the products sell. A salon with steady card sales can also look at a merchant cash advance, which is not a loan.
With an advance, the provider buys part of the salon’s future card sales at a discount and collects a share of each day’s card receipts until the agreed amount is in. That can cost more than a credit line, so it is worth adding up before signing.
A station upgrade that also replaces dryers can be quoted as one package: the dryers on equipment financing, the stations, mirrors and shelving on a term loan, or the whole quote on a term loan if a partner prefers it that way.
Business loans for salons around San Mateo County, CA: hair, nail and barber shop upgrades
| Upgrade | Shop type | Product to compare |
|---|---|---|
| Pedicure thrones, manicure tables, polish racks | Nail salon | Equipment financing |
| Barber chairs | Barber shop | Equipment financing |
| Lash beds, facial steamers, lamps | Hair or beauty salon | Equipment financing |
| Suite furnishings, color bar, station upgrade | Hair salon | Term loan |
| Empty rented chairs or booths | Any salon that rents space | Working capital |
| Retail product orders | Any salon with retail shelving | Credit line or a merchant cash advance (not a loan) |
Many owners in this trade work without staff. For 2024, Nonemployer Statistics counted 1,131 beauty salons in San Mateo County, CA with no paid employees.
ZIP 94063 had its own small share of the trade in 2023: 10 establishments under Beauty Salons (NAICS 812112) and 8 under Nail Salons (NAICS 812113) at addresses in that ZIP (ZBP). The Redwood City, CA page covers that ZIP, and the industries page sets salons next to gyms and shops.
By Whiteside Finance · Updated