Hair and beauty outperforms all other sectors on the high street
New data has revealed that hair and beauty salons increased in numbers more than any other sector on the high street in 2017, showing buoyancy in the market despite the looming uncertainty of Brexit.
The Retail and Leisure Trends H1 2017 Report by The Local Data Company, which studied the top 500 town centres in the UK, revealed more businesses opened on the high street than closed in the first half of 2017, and that independent shops, including those in the beauty sector, led the way.
Barbers and beauty salons were the top two in the list of booming businesses ranked by numbers of net openings in Q1, followed by cafés and tea rooms, convenience shops and tobacconists. Nail salons were in the top 10, ranked ninth.
The “service/retail” classification, which beauty and hair falls under, saw 5,530 openings and 5,213 closures in this period, resulting in an increase of 317 shops, the report found.
While the news reflects an increase in client demand, it also means salons will need to work harder to gain and retain clients and to recruit good therapists, due to increased competition for both coupled with a reduction in the number of new therapists entering the industry.