Houston or Raleigh area to start a hair salon?

I am moving from Detroit in June to pursue my dream of opening a salon. I am 23, have experience in the field, and am very entrepreneurial with a degree in accounting. I need to know whether Houston or Raleigh will be a better venue for business and why, considering I will have no contacts or clientele.

Where would you suggest I start working first: myself or another salon (dept store? privately owned?)?

Also, if you know some nice, skilled diverse or African American-based salons in either area, please share them! Thanks!

Houston or Raleigh area to start a hair salon?

I can't speak for Houston because I never been there but I lived in Raleigh for several years and it is a nice and continuously growing place. Because you will be new to the areas that you relocated to, I recommend that you test out both areas first before opening up your own business. I know it cost money to move but think about it, you can stay in Raleigh for about a a year or two and see how your clientele will go and if it doesn't do to well, then relocate to Houston.

As for your first place of employment, I recommend a dept. store first to help build your clientele. Most privately own salons clients have a person who they are use to going to whereas dept. store salons normally have various people who comes in at any time to get their hair done.

Houston or Raleigh area to start a hair salon?

Hmmm, this is a tough decision. From my understanding, Houston is much larger than Raleigh but if you move to a larger city, their will be much more competition. As the above poster stated, Raleigh is a big city also and still growing. So, I am not sure which city you should relocate to at this time.

I suggest you start out in a dept. store first with no clientele. This way, you can build your clientele and branch out on your own. My current beautician started out at a JCPenney and when her clientele climbed, she opened her own salon and doing pretty well. Good Luck.