ENGLISH

Establishment and operation of a nail salon

Selection of location and suitable commercial districts

Selection of location and suitable commercial districts

Buildings permitted to contain nail salons

- A nail salon is only permitted to be located in a building where its use is classified as class 1 neighborhood living facility (Subparagraph 3(c) of attached Table 1 of the Enforcement Decree of the Building Act).

Specific use areas permitted to contain nail salons

- The operation of nail salons is permitted in areas without restriction except in the following specific use areas (Article 76(1) of the National Land Planning and Utilization Act and Article 71(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the National Land Planning and Utilization Act):

Specific use areas	Restrictions
▪ First-class exclusive residential area ▪ Second-class exclusive residential area	The total floor area of the place of beauty arts business must be less than 1,000 m2 (Subparagraph 1(b) of attached Table 2 and Subparagraph 3(c) of attached Table 3 of the Enforcement Decree of the National Land Planning and Utilization Act)
▪ Green conservation area	Urban and Gun planning ordinances of the area must allow for the construction of buildings that constitute first-class neighborhood living facilities. In this case, the total floor area used for the corresponding place of beauty arts business must be less than 500m2 (Subparagraph 2(b) of attached Table 15 of the Enforcement Decree of the National Land Planning an Utilization Act)
▪ Conservation management area ▪ Production management area ▪ Agricultural and forestry area	Urban and Gun planning ordinances of the area must allow for the construction of buildings that constitute first-class neighborhood living facilities (Subparagraph 2(a) of attached Table 18, Subparagraph 2(b) of attached Table 19, and Subparagraph 2(a) of attached Table 21 of the Enforcement Decree of the National Land Planning and Utilization Act)
▪ Natural environment conservation area	Business prohibited (Attached Table 22 of the Enforcement Decree of the National Land Planning and Utilization Act)

※ If any person wishes to open a nail salon, he or she should obtain a building register from the district office or Minwon24 (www.minwon.go.kr) to identify whether the building is unauthorized, how large the area is, and what the purpose of the building is, so as to make sure that the business operation is permitted in the building before signing a lease agreement.

Types of commercial districts suitable for nail salons

Types of suitable districts	Merits and demerits	Features
Primary candidate locations (District centers or areas adjacent to subway stations)	Merits	▪ It is easy to secure a female customer base in connection with fashion businesses such as apparel stores and general stores ▪ High preference for fashion allows the revenue to rise by providing high-priced services and products ▪ Has sufficient and high-quality demand
	Demerits	▪ High-cost property rents are incurred overall due to the development of centrally-located commercial districts and areas adjacent to subway stations ▪ Due to the competition for scale, the profitability may be low compared to the size of investment ▪ Need to be ready for competition with franchises of famous designer salons
Secondary locations (Neighborhood living facilities in residential areas)	Merits	▪ May achieve the efficiency of securing a certain customer base by using 1-2 core workers in a small-scale establishment ▪ It is easier to compete for scale than in centrally-located commercial districts or areas adjacent to the subway stations ▪ Need to be ready for competition with franchises of famous designer salons
	Demerits	▪ As the demand is limited and small and medium-sized salons divide up the market, there are clear limitations to raising the revenue ▪ Small salons will have to face limitations such as failure to accommodate customers when demand is high