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MASSAGES FOR THE MASSES

Spas bring luxury at everyday prices to malls and lifestyle centers

BY MYA FRAZIER

Facials, body scrubs, massages — they’re not just for movie stars anymore. The spa industry’s consumer appeal is broadening these days, as more middle-of-the-road shoppers turn their discretionary dollars toward feel-good activities.

“The spa lifestyle is trickling down to the middle class,” said Candace Corlett, a partner at WSL Strategic Retail, a New York City-based retail consulting firm. “Smart, entrepreneurial retailers are realizing that treatments and services that used to be reserved for the rich and famous are now very mainstream.”

In 2000 the number of spas jumped 51 percent from the year before, and that climbed an additional 12 percent between 2002 and 2004, according to the International Spa Association. Currently, the $11 billion industry counts 12,100 spas operating in the U.S.

The luxury-for-the-masses business formula is one Ann Ratner knows well. As co-owner of Vienna, Va.-based Ratner Cos., which operates 1,000 salons under six names, she helped expand a value-price yet hip salon concept, Hair Cuttery, to about 800 stores over the past two decades. Now her Salon Cielo and Spa concept is bringing $60 facials and $80 massages mainstream at lifestyle centers and regional malls.

Launched in 2001 at Columbia (Md.) Mall, Salon Cielo and Spa had expanded to 10 stores by the end of last year. The units, which average 2,000 square feet each, bring in a total of about $10 million in annual sales at shopping center locations in Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Although $60 facials are no easy sell to the value-conscious consumer, Ratner believes that catering to the desires of this segment represents an untapped market, one traditionally ignored by pricier, stand-alone day spas.

The key is giving a little on the price, says Ratner. The average price of a facial in the U.S. is $80, according to the Spa Association, $20 more than her salons charge. “This is a place that if you feel down or stressed one day and are shopping, you can walk in and have a spa service without an appointment and without facing outrageous prices,” Ratner said.

Using light-colored wood accents and soft, warm lighting, Ratner avoided the minimalist, post-modern aesthetic of the typical upscale New York City day spa and projected comfort and indulgence instead. “Everything is soft and nothing is harsh,” she said. “We worked on making Cielo a heavenly experience.”

Rather than angular forms, the prominent design element is curves, such as a vaulted ceiling that mimics the lines of a baby grand piano. “It’s a nontraditional space, not a hard industrial space, but an elegant space with curvilinear forms,” said Jim Gundlach, the partner at Falls Church, Va.-based J3 Design Collective who created the design.

Because Salon Cielo is inviting rather than pretentious, Ratner says, walk-ins are more common. The design helps a greater number of women perceive the spa as a place for everyone, not just the well-to-do.

Though many Cielo spas are located in regional malls, lifestyle centers are more likely than stand-alones or even mall-based day spas to drive walk-ins, she says. A lifestyle center atmosphere, she notes, makes her target consumer more open to a spa experience, because the environment is conducive to all-day outings and indulgence purchases — from leisurely lunches to $4 cappuccinos.

She says further that what could be dubbed the “impulse” pedicure or facial is a critical driver of success. Weekend hours at Salon Cielo locations still tend to require appointments, but weekday hours attract a steady stream of walk-ins.

“People are tired of the mammoth places,” she said. “I think what people need right now is a change, and the lifestyle centers are filling this need. Cielo fits here because it is the place to indulge and get pampered, making a lifestyle center the right place for a minispa concept.”

There are four Salon Cielo stores at Simon Property Group regional malls — The Fashion Centre at Pentagon, in Arlington, Va.; the Florida Mall, Orlando, Fla.; the SouthPark Mall, in Charlotte, N.C.; and the Town Center at Boca Raton, Fla. — but Ratner Cos. and Simon both see the day-spa future in lifestyle centers.

“The spa concept has great potential for lifestyle centers,” said Les Morris, a Simon spokesman. “We will probably see more and more of this type of concept in our properties. We have a high concentration of high-end properties, and these customers are drawn to luxury stores, and they have the disposable income to patronize day spas.”

As the lifestyle concept grows in popularity, upscale restaurants, theaters and similar entertainment venues are replacing department stores as traffic-driving anchors, Morris says. At Simon’s roughly 300 North American properties, fewer than a dozen have day spas.

Equating the traffic-driving potential of a day spa with that of a traditional department store anchor may be a stretch, but Morris says spas can add the edge lifestyle centers need in their entertainment and indulgence mix to stay fresh.

Ratner says that not every so-called lifestyle center complements her real estate vision. She only wants the ‘A’ centers and prefers a mix of upscale retail — including top-tier department store anchors — and mid-range apparel names, such as Ann Taylor Loft.

And though lifestyle developers like Simon see day spas as a good addition to the prototypical lifestyle center mix, getting in isn’t always easy, even with a strong tenant-landlord relationship. Itching to expand further in Florida, Ratner is waiting for enough space to open at the Waterford Lakes Town Center, a 952,000-square-foot, Simon-owned, open-air lifestyle center in Orlando. Waterford is one of two Salon Cielo openings that Ratner Cos. plans for this year; the other will open somewhere in Charlotte.

The addition of the day spa concept to lifestyle centers couldn’t have come at a better time, says WSL’s Corlett.

“Lifestyle centers are no longer interesting, because it’s now a formula,” Corlett said. “I think developers are still too focused on specialty clothing stores and home stores. They are not looking for the fringe opportunity. Putting a spa at a lifestyle center makes sense, because it’s where the middle class spends a good part of its leisure time.”