`seed-data/README.md`

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# LA-Area Salons Dataset for Small Business Builder

## Overview
This dataset contains 41 high-quality salon, barbershop, and spa businesses across the Los Angeles area, curated for the small-business-builder outreach pipeline. The data covers Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Hollywood, DTLA, Culver City, and surrounding neighborhoods.

## Data Collection Methodology

### Primary Search Queries Used
1. "best hair salons Beverly Hills Los Angeles"
2. "top rated barbershops West Hollywood DTLA"
3. "highest rated nail salons Santa Monica Venice California"
4. "luxury spa salons Silver Lake Los Feliz Hollywood"
5. "brow lash salon studio city culver city Los Angeles"
6. Targeted searches per salon name (e.g., "Cristophe Salon Beverly Hills 35 years")

### Data Sources (All Public)
- **Yelp**: Review counts, star ratings, business hours, verified addresses, phone numbers
- **Official Websites**: Business info, services, hours, contact details
- **Instagram**: Follower counts, handles, verification of social presence
- **Google Maps**: Address verification, map links
- **Business Directories**: Fresha, BestProsInTown, Chamber of Commerce listings
- **News/Articles**: Historical context (e.g., Manley's Barber "since 1959", Hiroshi Hair "since 1978")

### Information Per Entry
- **Core**: Name, address, city, neighborhood, ZIP, website, phone
- **Social**: Instagram handle/URL/followers, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter (when available)
- **Reviews**: Yelp URL, review count, star rating
- **History**: Years in business (from founding date or "since X" statements on websites)
- **Ranking Score**: Composite metric (see formula below)

## Ranking Score Formula

```
ranking_score = 0.40 × normalized(yelp_reviews, 0-1000)
              + 0.30 × normalized(instagram_followers, 0-100k)
              + 0.15 × min(years_in_business, 30) / 30
              + 0.10 × (has_website ? 1.0 : 0.0)
              + 0.05 × (has_yelp ? 1.0 : 0.0)
```

**Why this weighting?**
- **Yelp reviews (40%)**: Strong proxy for business maturity and customer satisfaction; local businesses live & die by Yelp in LA
- **Instagram followers (30%)**: Direct indicator of marketing reach and customer engagement; salons with large followings are likely doing active social/content marketing
- **Years in business (15%)**: Stability signal; longer-standing businesses have proven staying power
- **Website (10%)**: Basic digital infrastructure; not having a website is a red flag
- **Yelp presence (5%)**: Online discoverability

**Normalization approach:**
- Yelp: capped at 1,000 reviews (anything above = 1.0)
- Instagram: capped at 100k followers (anything above = 1.0)
- Years: capped at 30 years (anything above = 1.0)

### Top 10 by Ranking Score

| Rank | Name | Category | Neighborhood | Score |
|------|------|----------|--------------|-------|
| 1 | Blind Barber (Culver City) | Barbershop | Culver City | 0.88 |
| 2 | Fellow Barber (Silver Lake) | Barbershop | Silver Lake | 0.85 |
| 3 | Bolt Barbers | Barbershop | DTLA | 0.84 |
| 4 | Cristophe Salon Beverly Hills | Salon | Beverly Hills | 0.84 |
| 5 | Gamine Beauty | Salon | Silver Lake | 0.83 |
| 6 | Nelson J Salon Beverly Hills | Salon | Beverly Hills | 0.81 |
| 7 | Rock Paper Salon | Salon | Silver Lake | 0.81 |
| 8 | House of AANUKO | Barbershop | Culver City | 0.80 |
| 9 | The NOW Massage (Silver Lake) | Spa | Silver Lake | 0.78 |
| 10 | Chris McMillan (The Salon) | Salon | Beverly Hills | 0.79 |

## Data Quality Notes

### Completeness
- **41 entries total** (41% coverage of 100-entry goal; see gaps below)
- **38 with full website + phone**: 93% completeness on core contact data
- **35 with Instagram handles**: 85% social media capture
- **36 with Yelp links**: 88% review platform presence

### What We Didn't Capture
- **LinkedIn owner pages**: Most salon owners don't maintain public LinkedIn profiles; omitted where not discoverable
- **TikTok**: Only 2 salons in final dataset had active TikTok (salon social is Instagram-first in LA)
- **Twitter**: Nearly 0% adoption in this vertical
- **Website traffic proxies**: No access to Analytics; Yelp reviews are best available proxy
- **Exact founding dates**: Many salons state "since 19XX" but not all; "years_in_business" is rounded where based on published text

### Excluded Salons
- **Yelp blocks WebFetch**: Direct Yelp search pages return 403; used search API + business pages instead
- **DTLA Cuts**: Listed as CLOSED (March 2026) — included with warning flag
- **Multiple incomplete entries**: Mèche Salon, Bicolor Nail Boutique, Nailtique — insufficient address/phone; kept with lower scores as candidates

## Named Gaps & Recommendations

### Gap 1: Studio City / Sherman Oaks Coverage
**Status**: Minimal. Found references to Lash & Brow LA (now closed per Yelp), but no active, highly-rated alternatives with full contact data.
**Recommendation**: Direct outreach to Studio City barber/salon directories; this is a high-income neighborhood likely underrepresented.

### Gap 2: Complete Lash + Brow Specialization
**Status**: Only 2 entries (The Brow Fixx, Belris). Brow/lash is fast-growing in LA but most businesses are one-off indie practitioners on Sola Salons, not standalone storefronts.
**Recommendation**: Expand outreach to Sola Salons franchisees (shared salon space models); these are high-volume but harder to rank individually.

### Gap 3: Luxury Spa Penetration (Echo Park, Mid-City)
**Status**: Weighted heavily toward Silver Lake/Los Feliz spas. Echo Park and Mid-Wilshire lack high-review-count entries.
**Recommendation**: Search "luxury spa [neighborhood]" + check Fresha/ClassPass listings; many use booking platforms instead of standalone websites.

## Usage in Small Business Builder

This dataset is ordered by `ranking_score` (descending). Suggested outreach tiers:

1. **Tier 1 (0.80+)**: 10 salons — highest confidence, proven marketing maturity
2. **Tier 2 (0.70-0.79)**: 15 salons — solid candidates, established presence
3. **Tier 3 (0.60-0.69)**: 10 salons — emerging, opportunity to be early adopter
4. **Tier 4 (<0.60)**: 6 salons — incomplete data, but real businesses; verify before outreach

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**Generated**: 2026-05-02  
**Research Hours**: ~4 hours (WebSearch + WebFetch, manual validation)  
**Next Steps**: 
- Validate phone numbers via direct call (sample n=5 from each tier)
- Check for site-builder competitors already serving these businesses
- Pilot outreach to Tier 2 (proven demand, lower churn risk)