The numbers
As stated by the listing on September 7, 2026.
- Asking price
- $198,400
- SDE
- $195,300
- Gross revenue
- $578,400
- Multiple
- 1.02x
- Established
- 2019
- Employees
- 7
Why we like it
A gel or dip manicure grows out in two to three weeks, not because the customer chooses to come back but because the product does. That fill interval is built into the service itself, and it is what turns a one-time visit into a standing appointment on the books. Virginia requires anyone performing that work to hold a nail technician license through the Board of Barbers and Cosmetology, and the salon location needs its own shop license on top of that. This Chesapeake salon runs on that rebooking rhythm with seven people doing high-end nail work: gel, acrylic, dip, and the add-ons that lift a ticket above a basic polish change. Start with how those seven are engaged, employee or booth renter, because a booth-rental shop collects rent whether a chair is busy or empty, but the client relationship belongs to the technician, not the business, and she can walk her book across town without violating anything. Employees, by contrast, work whoever the salon books them, and the salon keeps the client list. The real growth lever in a shop like this is not more square footage, since the plumbing and stations are already built out. It is keeping every chair booked back to back instead of half full, which makes this fundamentally a scheduling and staff-retention problem before it is anything else.
You probably need a licence to run this
Virginia requires a shop license for the salon location itself, separate from any individual nail technician's license, and every technician performing services needs their own license from the Board of Barbers and Cosmetology. The buyer does not personally need a nail technician license to own the business if staff stay licensed and someone qualifies as the licensed manager of record, but if the buyer intends to work a chair, they would need to hold the license themselves. The listing does not say whether the current owner performs services or who holds the shop license, and that shop license likely does not transfer automatically to a new owner, so this needs to be confirmed before closing.
What worries us
- Owner and technician dependenceIf the owner works a chair and built the salon's reputation personally, a meaningful share of the client relationships may be tied to them rather than to the business, and the listing does not say how much of the revenue runs through the owner's own bookings.
- Technician turnover and portable clienteleLicensed nail technicians can leave for another salon or go independent, and if this shop runs on a booth-rental or loosely structured model, departing staff can take their regular clients with them, leaving empty chairs that still cost rent.
- Lease and build-out exposurePedicure stations require dedicated plumbing that is expensive to replicate, so the remaining lease term and any rent increases matter more here than in a business that could relocate cheaply.
The callSuits a buyer ready to manage a schedule and retain technicians closely, not one looking for a passive, hands-off investment.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $187,718 |
| Seller standby note | $10,429 |
| Buyer cash at close | $10,429 |
| Total sources | $208,576 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $198,400 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $5,952 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $4,224 |
| Total project | $208,576 |
- Monthly payment
- $2,403
- Annual debt service
- $28,841
- DSCR
- 2.11xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($20,858 against $20,858 required)
- Closing costs estimated at 3% of asking price
- Owner salary of $120,000, loaded
- Rate of Prime + 2.25% = 9.25%
- 10-year term, fully amortizing
- Injection split half cash, half seller standby note
How we would go about buying it
The order matters. Every step below is free until the last one, and each is a chance to walk away before it costs you anything.
- 1
Call the broker, not the bank
The listing is brokered, so the broker is the gate. Ask for the CIM and the last three years of tax returns, and expect to sign an NDA first. Do this before you talk to a lender: no lender will size a loan without the numbers, and the broker will not release them to a lender you have not engaged.
Open the listing - 2
Ask these before you spend anything
Specific to this business, from our read of the listing. The answers decide whether the numbers above survive contact.
- Are the seven staff W-2 employees or booth renters who pay rent and keep their own clientele, and if booth rental, what are the rent terms and how many chairs are currently filled versus vacant?
- How much of total revenue runs through the owner's own chair versus the other technicians, and does the owner plan to keep working after the sale or is that book of clients walking out the door with them?
- What is the remaining lease term and rent escalation schedule, given that pedicure stations need dedicated plumbing that would be expensive to rebuild elsewhere?
- Does the Chesapeake shop license transfer with the sale, or does the buyer need to apply fresh with the Virginia Board of Barbers and Cosmetology, and is there a licensed manager on staff besides the owner?
- What does the appointment book look like: what share of visits are standing rebookings on a fill cycle versus one-off walk-ins, and is there a retention number the salon actually tracks?
- 3
Take it to lenders who do this size
Talk to more than one. Rate is the least of it: the lender who has done fifty of these in Virginia will close, and the one who has done two will waste your quarter. Below are the lenders whose typical deal size actually fits this one.
- 4
Structure the offer around the coverage
Our structure clears the floor at 2.11x, and a lender will run its own version with its own add-backs. If the earnings come back lower than stated, the price has to come down or the seller note has to grow. Model both before you make an offer.
Model it yourself
Who we would call
Active Virginia acquisition lenders whose typical deal size fits this one.
- Huntington National Bank
21 loans in VAmedian $350,000median rate 8.75%~32 days to first disbursement
- Truliant FCU
13 loans in VAmedian $545,300median rate 10.25%~25 days to first disbursement
- Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company
12 loans in VAmedian $326,250median rate 9.50%~42 days to first disbursement
Loan counts and medians are that lender’s change-of-ownership loans in Virginia, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3. Funding speed is the lender’s national median from approval to first disbursement. Names link to our data profile for each lender.
The fine print
The statements this write-up makes about the trade and its rules, as opposed to the figures, were checked against public sources on September 3, 2026. 4 claims were checked.
Worth verifying yourself
These are industry statements we could not confirm against an authoritative public source. They are not contradicted by anything we found, but treat them as leads to check rather than settled facts.
- Gel, dip powder, and acrylic manicures grow out and need a maintenance fill roughly every two to three weeks, which is what turns a manicure into a recurring service rather than a one-time purchase.
Run your own numbers
The deal analyzer models price, seller note, equity injection, and DSCR under current SBA terms, with every assumption adjustable.
Open the deal analyzerListing facts as stated by the listing on September 7, 2026, not independently verified. Structure, payment, DSCR, and injection figures are our own computation under the assumptions above, using the Prime rate as of September 28, 2026. Lender shortlist from the SBA 7(a) FOIA file, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3, as of June 30, 2026. Methodology. See an error? Email us and we will correct it.