Fusion Tanning Studios has opened six new tanning salons — three in Knoxville, Tenn., and three in Lexington, Ky. — in the last nine months. President and CEO Noel Russell said getting into the tanning salon business wasn’t in his original plan.

“We sort of stumbled into it actually,” he said. “We were running a different business and had introduced one tanning bed. Soon people were coming in just to tan, and the demand became so great that we decided to enter the tanning industry.”

It was a move that certainly has become a great success, with Fusion Tanning Studios now operating in 14 different locations and serving thousands of clients per store.

“With our newest salons in Knoxville, we knew the demand for tanning services in those locations was very high,” Russell said. “We felt many of those people were not receiving the best tan possible and so we wanted to give them that option.”

And with three new salons in Lexington just this year, Russell wanted to open the company up to a new market.

“The Lexington area is a new one for us to work in,” he said. “However, we are used to operating in college towns and felt we could provide exceptional customer service along with additional options to the tanning experience.”

Fusion Tanning Studios carries a full line of tanning beds manufactured by Indianapolis-based ETS Tan in each of its salons, including the Sunvision Elite 30, Sunvision Elite 32, SunStar 432, StarPower 548 and SolarForce 648. These beds are powered by Wolff® system lamps and have advanced after-tan cooling systems. The salon also offers an exciting addition to traditional tanning with the Velocity™ HP1000 bed.

ETS Tan’s Velocity HP1000 has a futuristic design and offers a 360-degree ultra-pressure tanning experience providing a deep, rich, long-lasting tan. It also offers several special features, such as an integrated stereo system with four speakers, a subwoofer and a powerful, total-body cooling system.

“We chose to work with ETS because we found that their beds offer the best tan,” Russell said. “Customers get more of a bronze color, which they prefer. The beds are also fairly maintenance-free and have great reliability.”

Other products offered include sunless tanning options as well as the Hydration Station™, an advanced capsule using cutting-edge technology to saturate tanned skin with moisture, helping to protect the skin and prolong the tan. Customers can also take advantage of convenient tanning hours — Fusion Tanning Studios is open 7 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday, 363 days a year.

“We work continually with the community to make sure we are providing our customers with the best tan possible and making their experience in our salons a beautiful one,” Russell said.