Bronze Bay Tanning opens new location

Sarah Munkacsy regularly gets hugs from her customers.

The East Lansing resident and owner of Bronze Bay Tanning, who last week opened a second location at 617 E. Grand River Ave. said her No. 1 priority is getting to know her customers and forming a comfortable atmosphere at the store.

“Students walk in and I know them by name,” Munkacsy said. “If I can’t touch their life, it’s not worth it to me.”

For the grand opening of the new location Monday, Munkacsy and workers prepared free lotion packets and homemade treats for customers to enjoy during their experience at the new place.

Munkacsy, who opened the original Bronze Bay location at 109 E. Grand River Ave., six years ago, said she is a mom first, a business owner later. A mother of four daughters, Munkacsy didn’t let her own daughters tan until she had done adequate research to find out what was a safe amount of sun exposure.

Tanning can be safer than over-exposure outdoors because it’s a controlled environment, Munkacsy said.

“There’s no control out there,” she said.

With more than 4,000 active customers, Munkacsy said they have about 300-400 customers each day during the school year, a boost from about 50 a day during the summer. Munkacsy and her husband, Al, worked day and night to open the new location, taking about a month to paint the inside and rewire the lights.

General business management freshman Courtney Pearce bought a tanning package at the new Bronze Bay Tanning location last week and said she plans to visit the salon a few times a week after class.

Pearce said Bronze Bay stands out compared to the competition because of its quality equipment.

“I like that the beds are new,” Pearce said. “At the place I used to tan, they didn’t have face bulbs.”

Because of the cold summer, Pearce wants to tan to keep some color but does not plan on getting super dark, she said.

Munkacsy said because of the economy and perhaps people’s fear of indoor tanning, they have had less business than in past years. To help with this, Bronze Bay Tanning reduced prices of several tanning packages, with a monthly package at the new location at $35 as part of a grand opening special.

Some of the hype around the dangers of indoor tanning can be misleading because they do not acknowledge how many other things can cause cancer, Munkacsy said.

“Candles have carcinogens, eating off a grill has carcinogens, air fresheners can cause cancer,” she said. The solution, Munkacsy said, is moderation. She recommends tanning no more than once every other day.

Munkacsy herself has seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, a disease that can cause depression if a person is deprived of sunlight.

“I go twice a week because it boosts my serotonin,” she said. “We just need to educate people; there’s good and bad with everything.”

Members of Bronze Bay Tanning give back to the community with organized food drives, where visitors can tan for free if they bring in food, as well as participate in local cancer walks.

Munkacsy interacts with other businesses in the community, such as Dublin Square Irish Pub, 327 Abbot Road, and Harper’s Restaurant & Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave., to help each other out, she said.

“We like to set the standards higher,” she said. “We don’t want to be just a business.”

Munkacsy looked at the property of the new location, which previously was a salon called All-Tan, in late July. While tanning places usually buy the equipment that is on the property when they move into a new location, Munkacsy said she did not want the beds that already were there because they nearly were eight years old.

Instead, they bought five new beds, and brought four from the salon down the street.

A major plus to the new location is how many people go by during the day, Munkacsy said.

“I can’t believe the foot traffic,” she said. “We don’t get a lot of that at the other location.”

Munkacsy said the demographic of visitors are mainly college-aged, but some high schoolers come during prom time for spray tans and other specials.

The salon is not only for women, either. Munkacsy said men from various MSU sports teams come in for a tan because it helps them relax. Two years ago, members of the men’s lacrosse team joined forces with the salon to raise money by wearing flowers and walking each girl who came into the salon to their room.

English senior Megan Kelly, who has worked at Bronze Bay Tanning for two years, said she knew Munkacsy from when she worked at a restaurant and they became friends.
When Kelly mentioned that she needed a new job, Munkacsy hired her the next day, she said.

“It’s been such a good family atmosphere here,” Kelly said. “I hate waking up and hating my job and I never feel like that here.”

Bronze Bay Tanning’s interior is tropical, feeding into the atmosphere that Munkacsy wants to provide.

When Munkacsy finds out her salongoers have visited another salon in the area, she said she asks them what they liked about the place and what they can do differently to improve customer service at Bronze Bay Tanning.

“It helps us be one of the tanning companies that stand out,” she said. “It’s about reputation.”