Tropi Tan

Tropi Tan is a regional indoor tanning salon brand that serves everyday customers looking for quick, affordable tanning services rather than a full spa experience. The company focuses on UV tanning beds, stand‑up booths, and related products in neighborhood settings where regular repeat visits are common.

The brand began in 1979, when founder Vince Lorraine started Tropi Tan as a student and built it over time into a recognized name in indoor tanning across Michigan. Over the following decades, the company expanded to a multi‑unit footprint, with salons clustered in suburban Detroit and nearby markets and typically located in neighborhood and grocery‑anchored shopping centers that rely on steady daily traffic. As the broader tanning category grew, Tropi Tan became known as a small‑format, service‑oriented tenant that could make effective use of second‑generation retail space with relatively simple build‑outs.

As indoor tanning faced tighter regulation and changing health perceptions, many regional operators adjusted their portfolios, rethought their service mix, or closed weaker locations, and Tropi Tan’s network appears to have followed this pattern. As of December 2025, the brand operates a smaller and more localized salon group than at its historical peak, with activity concentrated primarily in Michigan and in trade areas close to its existing base. The business focus has shifted from rapid new unit growth to operating and refreshing existing salons, selectively relocating or opening new units where there is proven demand.

Over roughly the last five years, Tropi Tan has acted more as a steady neighborhood service provider than an aggressive expansion vehicle. Any new sites have tended to be opportunistic within existing or adjacent trade areas, often in neighborhood and community centers with strong daily‑needs anchors, visible frontage, and convenient access. This approach keeps Tropi Tan well suited to multi‑tenant retail environments that depend on frequent visits, and its small‑shop salons can help stabilize challenging inline spaces by generating consistent appointment‑driven trips without putting heavy pressure on shared parking.

For landlords, brokers, and developers, Tropi Tan represents a mature, independent operator with deep roots in Michigan rather than an emerging concept testing new markets. Its long tenure in the indoor tanning category provides a measure of credibility in a sector that has seen both regulatory scrutiny and shifting consumer preferences. In centers where the brand is active, a Tropi Tan salon can round out the mix of fitness, hair, nail, and self‑care tenants that keep neighborhood centers relevant to local customers and support regular, non‑discretionary traffic patterns.