Walking through the door of Touch-N-Tan, the first person a client’s wandering eyes land on is owner Mike Giovanni smiling behind the desk. The twice-painted walls of the lobby are all about color – neon green. The thing that makes the salon different is all-day, everyday access.
Touch-N-Tan has been a salon for 25 years in Gretna, previously owned by Coach Michael Brandon for the first 15. Giovanni bought this salon in 2013 and has made significant changes for the better.
“We ran a software business, and we turned that software business into an idea,” Giovanni said. “We are a 24-hour access tanning salon and our (access) software is all over the United States and Canada.”
Giovanni said he decided that it was time for him to own his own salon to help accommodate the community. With his software, it allows 24-hour access to anyone and everyone who desires to stop in and get bronzed either at the crack of dawn or the edge of midnight. His software is not just in tanning salons. It can also be used throughout many other businesses.
“We have gyms, laundromats, apartment buildings, hair salons and tanning salons, but we wanted our own,” Giovanni said. “So we started 24-hour access tanning for spray tanning, red light therapy and UV tanning.”
Tanning is not always just for show. It can be health beneficial, and lead to a decrease in wrinkles, acne, and increased hair growth when using red light therapy according to the Cleveland Clinic. People going to Touch-N-Tan in Village Square come in and tan from all around the metro area whenever it is convenient for them. Clients can get into the salon with a key fob they are given after becoming a member.
“We get a lot of surrounding community,” Giovanni said. “We are very thankful for the community that we serve, very thankful.”
The tanning aspect of the business picks up its clientele between January and June. At GHS, many students stop in and get spray tans so they can be glowing for school events, including Homecoming and Prom.
“Prom and Homecoming are more of spray tanning and the influx of the younger people,” Giovanni said. “Then you got people that are doing it for weddings, vacations and health. It really depends on the season and the person.”
The go-to spray tan is the medium instant, causing it to be the most popular. It used to be back and forth teetering between the medium instant and the medium clear. The difference within them is that the clear is a transparent spray that can not be seen right away but eventually evolves. Now, about 90% of people settle on the medium instant.
“It is super convenient that they are open 24 hours,” sophomore Emma Brophy said. “Whenever I go in everyone is always smiling.”
With a staff of five, Touch-N-Tan covers all the bases of making sure that the tanning beds are sanitized before anyone uses them by applying Lubrizol. The salon is a happy place that causes everyone to be beaming at all times of the day.
“Our goal was to be successful and actually service the community to the best of our ability, and we have done it,” Giovanni said. “Just giving the general public the product what they want.”
Touch-N-Tan is the only tanning salon in Gretna. It started off as a small-town salon that has grown exponentially due to Giovanni putting in the 24-hour software that is now all around the country and Canada.
