After over 30 years in this industry, and reading a recent article in @modernsalon, titled “Are Salon Suites Becoming Too Cheap? ” can’t help but share what I am seeing. The issue isn’t that salon suites are too inexpensive.

It’s that the model itself has shifted our industry away from development, mentorship, and long-term career building.

To be clear, salon suites can absolutely be the right fit for a very seasoned professional. Someone with a full book, consistent demand, strong retail sales, and the experience to operate independently. For them, it can work beautifully.

But that’s not who this model is predominantly targeting anymore.

Let’s be honest about what salon suites are: they are real estate businesses. Their priority is occupancy. Not collaboration. Not education. Not standards. And not the long term success or quality of life of the service provider.

Each individual renter may take ownership of those items, but the business model is built on collecting rent on time, month after month.

And yet, many of these companies have grown by actively recruiting stylists from structured salon environments, often before they are fully prepared, selling the idea that “being your own boss” is the ultimate version of success.

What’s rarely discussed is what happens next.

Because the moment a stylist steps into a suite, they are no longer just behind the chair. They are now: • The stylist • The front desk • The marketing department • The inventory buyer • The cleaning crew • The business manager….and more

All at once. And all alone.

Yes, they may “keep more” on paper. But they also take on every cost, every responsibility, and every risk of operating independently, often without the foundation to do so sustainably.

In many cases, they operate so tightly that even a last-minute color change or new referral becomes challenging because inventory was purchased based on what was expected, not on what actually walked through the door.

So when the conversation turns to raising rent to better support suite owners, I have to step back and look at the REAL big picture here.

These are the same professionals being contacted daily, encouraged to leave team-based environments, and sold on independence as the only path forward.

Are we now suggesting they pay more into the same system? Because we did not charge them enough to go independent, THAT is what is failing.

If there were truly a natural demand for this many suites, there would be no need for constant outreach, inboxing, and recruiting from existing salons. Supply and demand would regulate itself, and premium spaces would command premium rent by attracting professionals who are truly ready for that level of independence.

Instead, we have to ask: How much more should the end consumer pay for services just to support inflated real estate models? Or how much will that independent operator have to charge to make rent?

In my view, the more important question is this:

How does working alone … removed from collaboration, mentorship, and structure, develop the next generation of great stylists and service providers?

Because if we continue to bypass that step, we don’t just dilute pricing…

We dilute the profession.

And no pricing model—high or low—will fix that.