New business: Lisa Sheldon of Sure Tan

PORTSMOUTH

Lisa Sheldon had been going to tanning salons for nearly 15 years. Plenty of times, she'd wished the floors had been cleaner, the staff a bit more pleasant.

"I thought I could do it better and enjoy it," Sheldon said.

In mid-December, she got her chance. Sheldon opened Sure Tan, an 800-square-foot salon with seven rooms, on Green Street near London Boulevard.

The sputtering economy made her hesitate, but not for long.

"It's a feel-good thing," Sheldon, 44, said. "People are still getting their hair and nails done. When they come to a tanning booth, they feel better. It's lasting; it's uplifting."

Even if people can't afford a tropical vacation now, "they come here and they look like they went to the Bahamas," said her husband, Lee, also 44. And it doesn't cost much: A 10- to 20-minute session ranges from $7 to $15.

Lee Sheldon had rejected dozens of other possible tanning sites. This one looked good.

The owner was selling her tanning store. She offered them her equipment and list of nearly 40 clients for $27,000, allowing them to pay half in installments. The location, on the edge of Olde Towne, was close to businesses and residences, but far enough from the nearest competing tanning salon. Rent was $700 a month.

In addition to the $13,500 up front, the Sheldons paid almost $4,000 to stock an array of lotions. All of it came out of their savings.

Lisa Sheldon left a job in accounts payable - "a very good job," her husband interjected - at ADS Inc. in Virginia Beach. She now works seven days a week, but "it doesn't bother me. When you work for yourself, it means more."

Plus, both Sheldons say, her mood has improved significantly.

Business at Sure Tan has picked up in the past couple of weeks. Some days, she gets 20 tanners. About 60 have signed up for the monthly Beach Club plan.

"I can pay my bills this month," Sheldon joked. For now, that's good enough - though she hopes to triple her customer base in a month.

"We're simple people," said Lee Sheldon, a glazier in Norfolk. "We don't have to make $300,000 a year. We have always lived within our means."

Sure Tan aims to conjure a beachfront feel, without the sand. The walls feature posters of tanned men and women in swimsuits. The air is fragrant with the sweet smell of coconut lotion.

Customers, Sheldon said, are split about evenly between men and women. They range from high school and college students to a woman in her 60s.

At 7:50 p.m. on a recent Thursday, less than an hour before closing time, the phone rang. Twenty minutes later, the caller, a woman in her 30s, dropped by for a 15-minute tanning session. Sheldon gave her a card.

She hopes she comes back.