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The Corner Economy

The Rent Is the Product

A salon suite stylist's weekly rent is the whole revenue line of a fast-growing franchise system, so who in that building actually carries the risk?

Tess and Ray · 23 min · 20 Oct 2026

FactUnion VerifiedEvery fact on the episode's fact sheet was checked against its sources. Wrong facts were corrected. What this meansFacts checked 19 Oct 2026

Chapters (8)

About this episode

Every Monday, thousands of stylists pay rent on a small private room before their first client sits down. Tess and Ray follow that rent out of the suite and through the franchise system. Part goes to the building's landlord. Part goes to a royalty taken off the top with a monthly floor. Then come flat brand, tech and relief fees, and whatever is left goes to an investor who was told this is a landlord business. Then they turn it around and ask what the stylist actually traded when she gave up a commission split for a fixed weekly bill.

The answer depends on her slowest weeks. We go through one openly illustrative model that compares a suite with forty-five percent commission. We also read the suite industry's own words about what it's selling, and look at why the government's earnings numbers can't tell us whether suite renters come out ahead. The episode ends with one thing to work out before Monday: your break-even week, and the three lines in your suite agreement worth reading again. Figures are dated and attributed. Some sources disagree, and the episode says so where they do.

Hosted by Tess and Ray, performed by synthetic voices. Supported by Lynqly.

Facts and sources

Every fact used in this episode, with the sources it was checked against. Download as data

170 of 170 recorded lines matched the checked script.

  1. My Salon Suite had 371 outlets in 2025, comprising 320 franchised and 51 company-owned or affiliate outlets, with 54 agreements signed but not yet open.

    Reworded to match its sources. The 2023 count of 263 is contested (another source says 321), so it is dropped. The 2025 totals of 371, 320 franchised and 51 company-owned are supported. The FDD attribution is unsupported.

  2. My Salon Suite franchisee rent expense was $158,167, about 34.8% of revenue.

    Reworded to match its sources. Removed unsupported "average," "to its own landlord," and "per the same reporting." One source gives $158,167 and 34.8%; another lists $163,664.

  3. My Salon Suite’s 2025 FDD sets the royalty at 2.75% for the first six months and 5.5% for months 7 to 12, and from month 13 on at “the greater of $1,000 or 5.5% of Gross Revenues”.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (franchisechatter.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  4. My Salon Suite’s 2025 FDD says the Brand Building Fund is “currently a minimum of $200 per month. We may increase this up to 2% of your monthly Gross Revenues.”

    Kept on a lower-weight source (fdd.ninja); nothing we found says otherwise.

  5. My Salon Suite’s technology fee is “currently $170 per month” in the 2025 FDD.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (fdd.ninja); nothing we found says otherwise.

Show all 26 factsShow fewer facts

  1. My Salon Suite has franchised since 2012 under Propelled Brands, charges a $50,000 initial franchise fee, and grants a 10-year initial term with a protected territory of typically a 2-mile radius.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (franchiseoverview.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  2. Phenix Salon Suites says it opened 26 new locations globally in 2025 and projects more than 30 openings in 2026.

  3. Phenix’s tenant page says agreements are month-to-month and pricing varies by location and suite size, and it does not publish rents.

  4. In December 2022, TSG Consumer Partners acquired a majority stake in Radiance Holdings, parent of Sola Salons (about 650 locations) and Woodhouse Spas. Terms were not disclosed.

  5. AInvest, citing unnamed ‘recent reports’, says Sola’s IPO “has been delayed” and might not come until Q4 2026 at the earliest.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (AInvest); nothing we found says otherwise.

  6. IMAGE Studios, a suite brand, gives single-suite weekly asking ranges of $275, $400 in Columbus, $350, $450 in Atlanta, $460, $651 in Chicago and $495, $936 in New York City, from a page dated February 16, 2023.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (imagestudios.co); nothing we found says otherwise.

  7. Strand Culture calls its commission-versus-rental numbers “an illustrative model, not typical earnings,” assuming 48 working weeks but 52 weeks of rent, 10% product and 3% card costs.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (strandculture.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  8. In Strand Culture’s model, a $400-a-week suite breaks even with 45% commission at about $1,425 a week in service sales. At $800 a week, commission takes home about $17,280 and the suite about $6,643, and at $2,500 a week it’s $54,000 and $72,620.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (strandculture.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  9. Strand Culture says each extra $100 in sales adds about $81 to a renter’s take-home versus $45 on 45% commission.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (strandculture.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  10. BLS counts 286,000 of 595,000 hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists (48.1%) as self-employed in 2025.

  11. The BLS earnings series for hairdressers on FRED “excludes all self-employed persons,” so it can’t measure suite renters’ income.

  12. Suite operator Shear Suites pitches pricing and schedule freedom and an uncapped upside, but concedes “more control also means more responsibility.”

    Kept on a lower-weight source (shearsuites.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  13. DocketPack says a booth renter must control her own schedule, clients, pricing, products and methods, and that required product lines point toward employee status under IRS, DOL or state ABC tests.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (docketpack.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  14. A suite renter’s blog describes a neighbor who managed a six-chair Silver Lake salon. By the end of 2024 two stylists had left for suites and the nail tech followed six months later, and she then closed the salon and rented a suite. The account is unnamed and secondhand.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (lutily.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  15. In a 2014 BeTheBoss interview, My Salon Suite’s master franchisor for Canada, Ken Suddaby, said: “The franchisee is essentially a commercial landlord collecting rent and supporting their tenants.”

    Kept on a lower-weight source (BeTheBoss.ca); nothing we found says otherwise.

  16. In 2022 sponsored content, Propelled Brands executive Mark Jameson said: “MY SALON Suite offers its franchisees a semi-passive owner experience, allowing them a way to own a franchise without the need to manage employees.” The same piece said most owners need only five to 10 hours a week.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (franchising.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  17. In a 2025 Q&A, Radiance Holdings chief development officer Scott Thompson said Sola’s growth is “driven by our recession-resilient real estate rental model, which offers franchisees strong occupancy rates with minimal staff requirements.”

    Kept on a lower-weight source (franchisechatter.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  18. Phenix’s director of real estate, Robert Aertker, told ICSC in 2024: “It’s the kind of business where you’re leasing space to people and taking the salon owner out of it.”

    Kept on a lower-weight source (icsc.com); nothing we found says otherwise.

  19. Sola’s May 2026 press release about its 2026 FDD calls Sola “a real-estate driven franchise model with operational simplicity, particularly attractive to investors seeking scalable growth without the complexity of traditional service-based businesses.”

  20. Hot & Fresh’s summary of Sola’s FDD says the franchisor and its affiliates receive rebates estimated at 18% of establishment costs and 2 to 5% of ongoing expenses.

    Kept on a lower-weight source (hotnfresh.app); nothing we found says otherwise.

  21. franchisedepth.com reports 321 outlets in 2023 (273 franchised, 48 company-owned), 353 in 2024 and 371 in 2025, while fddexchange.com reports 263 total outlets in 2023.

    Reworded to match its sources. Wrongly cited 2026 Wisconsin FDD and the sheet; evidence shows franchisedepth.com's 321 (2023) and fddexchange.com's conflicting 263 (2023).

Removed during checking (14)

  • 1851 Franchise reports that My Salon Suite's 2026 FDD Item 19 gives 2025 average gross revenue of $454,838 across 264 reporting locations, with average EBITDA of $180,687.

    Why it was removed: Only one source states this: 1851franchise.com.

  • Per the same reporting, 2025 average occupancy was 87.7% and median 92.2%, ranging from 100% down to 29.0%, and EBITDA ranged from $664,154 down to a loss of $145,600, on self-reported, unaudited data.

    Why it was removed: Only one source states this: 1851franchise.com.

  • Franchisedepth says My Salon Suite's 2026 FDD, issued 2026-05-01, does not publicly disclose Item 19 financial performance representations, which conflicts with other reports.

    Why it was removed: Only one source states this: franchisedepth.com.

  • In My Salon Suite's 2025 FDD, the bottom revenue quartile of 61 locations had average total occupancy of 78.3%, a median of 82.8%, and a low of 28.6%.

    Why it was removed: Only one source states this: fdd.ninja.

  • 1851 Franchise's summary of the 2026 FDD lists a $200 monthly Brand Building Fund, a $170 monthly technology fee and a $50 monthly Suite Relief Fund, and puts average royalties at $25,016 (5.5% of average revenue).

    Why it was removed: Only one source states this: 1851franchise.com.

  • The royalty plus flat fees ($5,040 a year) come to about $30,056, or about 6.6% of the $454,838 average. This is the show's own arithmetic from the reported figures, and about 8.5% if the brand fund were at the 2% cap.

    Why it was removed: We could not find a public record about this either way.

  • FranchiseValidate gives My Salon Suite's 2025 FDD investment range as $675,106 to $1,682,095 and says its Item 19 reports EBITDA, which omits debt service, taxes, depreciation and owner pay.

    Why it was removed: Only one source states this: FranchiseValidate.

  • Sola's 2025 FDD Item 19, per Franchat, reports franchised-location average gross revenue of $447,549 (median $423,383) across 653 locations, ranging from $96,173 to $1,394,548.

    Why it was removed: Only lower-weight sources state this: franchat.com and 4 more.

  • Strand Culture cites a BLS median wage of $17.21 an hour, including tips, for hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists in May 2025.

    Why it was removed: Reliable sources disagree about this.

  • In the same 2014 interview, Suddaby said stylists are "often unhappy with their working arrangements" and that "This creates the perfect market conditions for a franchisee to attract eager tenants."

    Why it was removed: We could not find these exact words on any source we read.

  • Forbes wrote in 2015 that Sola "isn't selling hair styling, it's selling stylists."

    Why it was removed: We could not find these exact words on any source we read.

  • Clearly FDD's comparison of My Salon Suite's 2025 and 2026 FDDs says the Item 19 financial performance representation is "included in 2025, included in 2026," which contradicts Franchisedepth.

    Why it was removed: Only one source states this: clearlyfdd.com.

  • A My Salon Suite recruiting ad in Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine (Issue 3, 2026), citing the 2026 FDD, claims 40% average EBITDA, 54.8% top-quartile EBITDA and 88.8% average occupancy for units open 24+ months. It says average sales are based on 264 franchised locations reporting for full-year 2025.

    Why it was removed: Sources only partly back this: franchise.org.

  • Averan Advisors, citing Item 19 of the 2026 FDD issued May 1, 2026, gives a 2025 median of $438,909 alongside the $454,838 average.

    Why it was removed: Only lower-weight sources state this: averanadvisors.com and 1 more.

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