Sunfast Professional Tanning: Bronzing Boone Since 1997
Story by Sam Calhoun
“I truly believe in tanning,” said Sunfast Professional Tanning co-owner Valerie Hutchens.
Taking a look around both of her tanning salons in Boone, you begin to believe her statement without question. The Sunfast salons are, quite simply, spotless—and they smell good too. The floors are pristine—they are mopped multiple times a day—the counter is organized and an employee is attentively explaining lotion varieties to a new customer. The beds are sparkling clean, the soft carpet has been vacuumed, the chairs are big and comfortable, even the walls are gleaming.
A visit to either of the salons shows that the dedicated employees and educated owners of Sunfast Professional Tanning put the “professional” back in tanning.
Husband and wife Tom and Valerie Hutchens—who came to the High Country in 1992 from Pompano Beach, Fla.—own Sunfast Professional Tanning.
Back in the mid-1980s, Tom, who was originally from High Point, had just graduated from college and looking for a career path in Florida. His father was a modern-day Renaissance man. In addition to owning one of the largest grocery store chains in the entire Southeast as well as being a fighter pilot, Tom’s father is also credited with being one of the first inventors of the tanning bed.
Who knows whether or not this was driving factor, but in 1985 Tom opened up the first Sunfast Professional Tanning operation in Pompano Beach.
“That’s when tanning first came on the scene,” explained Hutchens. Then, like now, Tom stocked his tanning salon with state-of-the-art equipment.
At the same time, Valerie—a native of New Jersey—was attending Florida State University and regularly worked out at a place in south Florida called the Power Plant Gym. It was there that she met Tom. The couple began dating and in 1992, Tom found 32.5 acres in Triplett and convinced Valerie to move to the High Country with him.
Tom sold the Florida location of Sunfast Professional Tanning and began building spec houses in North Carolina. Valerie found new work as well. She became an employee of Watauga Wood Products off Ray Brown Road.
In 1995, the couple married and decided to change their lines of work. They began a trend of identifying a niche and then filling it. Avid readers, they realized that Boone lacked a newsstand. From that idea, Highland Newsstand, located in the Shops at Shadowline, was born. From 1995 to 2005, the couple owned the newsstand, offering books, magazines, newspapers and assorted literature.
In 1997, the itch to open a tanning salon began to scratch once again. The Hutchens observed that tanning beds in Boone were usually relegated to the backs of existing businesses; there were no sole tanning bed organizations operating in town. So the couple opened Boone’s first Sunfast Professional Tanning in the Shops at Shadowline.
Tom had plenty of experience in construction and he built the whole operation himself—tackling the daunting task of wiring an electrical system to handle the energy-hungry beds.
And they were off and running.
From the start, the Hutchens have taken pride in offering customers the latest in bed and tanning techniques technology, in the cleanliness of their operation and in the training of their ten dedicated employees.
Since opening the first Sunfast, the Hutchens have updated beds three times and opened a second location at the Highland Commons Shopping Center.
They know what they’re doing. “We both can tear apart a [tanning] bed and put it back together with our eyes closed,” she said.
“We always update our beds,” explained Valerie. “And we basically sell cleanliness. All we do is clean,” she laughed.
She’s not kidding. Aside from having employees clean everything in sight and out of sight throughout both salons—including thorough wipe downs of the tanning beds after each use—even Sunfast’s walls are designed to be hygienic, as well as functional.
The walls, specially ordered from Germany, are specifically made for tanning salons, with ventilation vents on the top and bottom and a special surface that makes them easy to clean while retaining a brand-new sheen.
Each employee at Sunfast is state certified, requiring an 8-hour class, and they also receive a week-long training session from by Valerie and Tom. In addition to the basics of operating a tanning bed, Valerie and Tom emphasize the need to be polite to every customer who walks through Sunfast’s doors. And, of course, they emphasize the importance of keeping everything clean.
“Not only is our equipment state of the art, our employees are the best trained ever,” said Valerie.
Speaking of tanning beds, Sunfast has the best available. The tanning industry has three kinds of beds: the number three that contains 56 bulbs, the number two that contains 45 bulbs and the number one that contains 35 bulbs. A 56-bulb bed generates a more intense tan than the 45-bulb bed and so on. All of Sunfast’s beds are 56-bulb “big beds” and also contain facial tanners. Each private room is wired with SIRIUS satellite radio.
The Hutchens boast that their beds are the largest in Boone and that they use the most expensive bronzing bulbs available.
When Valerie stated that she believes in tanning, she wasn’t kidding about that either. She pointed out that new medical research has shown that light therapy via tanning beds can be an effective treatment for some skin disorders, and she has seen more and more customers coming into her shop for that reason. Also, when the Boone winters cause days without sunshine, her shop is bustling with people attempting to reset their body clocks by accumulating missing Vitamin D through tanning. Spring break also brings in a great deal of business.
And for the nay-sayers who believe that some people may tan too much and hurt their bodies, Valerie has an answer. The state of North Carolina regulates the amount of time that people can lie in a tanning bed from 12 to 15 minutes, and Sunfast limits customers to one session per day—ensuring that no one tans too much.
But the biggest assurance of all may be the fact that Valerie and Tom still tan themselves after all of these years.
So what’s next for this multitalented couple? Besides spending time with their two dogs Lucy, a golden retriever, and Cody, a chocolate Lab, the pair has some expansion plans in the future.
They’ve purchased a 3,100-square-foot building in Lenoir on Highway 321 across from Wal-Mart and are preparing to open their third and biggest location by January 2007. The new store will have 20 beds, compared to 10 at each of the Boone locations, and will feature a $50,000 “big bed” that is already installed.
According to Valerie, the state inspector once told her that the Boone Sunfast locations are some of the nicest in all of North Carolina, and she believes that the Lenoir location “will blow him out of the water.”
Individual tanning sessions at Sunfast begin at $7 and prices increase to include unlimited packages. Unlimited packages are sold by the month, but Sunfast is currently offering one week of unlimited tanning for $19.95 and two weeks of tanning for $29.95.
Sunfast Professional Tanning is located in Suite 30 in the Highland Commons Center, located in the Ingles/CVS shopping center on Highway 105 in Boone, and in the Shops at Shadowline, located in the Harris Teeter/Eckerd shopping center off Highway 321 in Boone. In the winter, Sunfast is open from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. In the summer, Sunfast is open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call Sunfast’s Highland Commons Center location at 828-264-9992 or the Shops at Shadowline location at 828-264-0007.
Graphics:
[Sunfast 1.1] or [Sunfast 1.2] or [Sunfast 1.3]
(From left to right) Sunfast Professional Tanning employee Sarah Oliver, Lucy (golden retriever), co-owner Valerie Hutchens (top), employee Madison Link, manager Jamie Davis and employee Christine Hayes sit in the giant papasan chairs in the foyer of the Highland Corners Center location of their professional tanning studio. Sunfast Professional Tanning also has a store in the Shops at Shadowline in Boone. Photos by Sam Calhoun
[Sunfast 2]
Sunfast Professional Tanning co-owner Valerie Hutchens stands in front of one of her 56-bulb big beds. Some of these “big beds” cost close to $50,000, like the one that has been installed at the Hutchens’ new Lenoir location.
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