PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

INSPA OFFERS BUSY MALL SHOPPERS QUICK, THRIFTY TUNE-UP

By Molly Knight

Trips to the mall this time of year can be stressful. For some, though, they are decidedly relaxing.

InSpa, a Kirkland, Wash.-based day spa company, has made a name for itself opening mass-market, no-nonsense spas at malls in its home state. Now the chain is moving into California (in September one of these spas opened at the mixed-use Santana Row, in San Jose), and it has ambitions to cover this country and perhaps others too.

A mall may seem an unlikely place for a massage or a facial, but though this is a category that traditionally caters to the luxury customer, InSpa is designed for mass-market consumption, says Judy Meleliat, the chain’s chief marketing officer. “Our goal is to create a nonpretentious environment that is comfortable, clean and inviting for people who might not have the luxury of having a lot of extra time and money,” Meleliat said. “That being said, we feel like we offer tremendous services at competitive prices.”

InSpa says it offers many of the services one finds at any day spa, only at lower prices: A 75-minute deep-cleansing facial costs $79; a 60-minute Swedish massage goes for $69; a classic pedicure runs $36; and an eyebrow waxing can be had for $16.50.

Reasonable pricing and the accessible nature of the spas has piqued the interest of landlords and investors alike, sources say. “Day spas have been a huge success in malls because you’ve got a captive audience,” said Terry Herman, an independent spa consultant in Chicago.

“There are so many shopping centers that don’t have them, so it becomes a huge selling point. Plus, the most recent research indicates that the number of day-spa visits has dramatically increased as the economy has improved.”

InSpa opened its very first store in 1999 at the University Village Shopping Center, in Seattle. Since then, the chain has expanded to six more centers, in the affluent Seattle suburbs of Bellevue, Factoria, Issaquah, Mill Creek, Redmond and Woodinville, plus the one in Santana Row.

The units measure about 2,000 square feet. “We like to be within that range because we can slip in and out of shopping centers very easily,” said Meleliat. “We’re smaller than your typical spa because our facilities don’t have showers, saunas, locker rooms, or water treatments that require more space.”

In August InSpa announced that it had secured a $5 million investment from the Bay Area Equity Fund I, a JPMorgan Chase-run venture capital fund. This money will help propel expansion in the San Francisco Bay area, company officials say.

Santana Row, which contains 555,000 square feet of retail, 20 restaurants and a four-star hotel, was InSpa’s choice for its first California unit even though it already had four spas, says Meleliat. “Santana Row is just a great center and in an area with a high population density,” said Meleliat. “Demographically, the market compares favorably to where we’ve had success in the Puget Sound area. Our core customer is an educated, computer-literate female between ages 25 and 54.”

At press time the chain was preparing to open its next California store at Almaden Plaza, in San Jose, before year-end. Meleliat says InSpa wanted to open its first non-Washington stores, before any national rollout, in California, so that the new stores would share the headquarters’ time zone. “It just makes it easier to go back and forth,” she said. “Next year we’ll build out in our home market and in the Bay Area. Depending on the real estate, we’d like to open six to eight more stores before the end of 2007. We believe InSpa is a national concept.”

InSpa has not ruled out international expansion, though that is still some ways down the road. “We foresee continuing to build faster and faster as we gain momentum,” said Meleliat. “That being said, the international concept is interesting, but not on our radar yet.”

There is, however, one region where InSpa will not succeed, according to Herman. “They will have trouble in the Bible Belt,” she said. “The people living there tend to get spooked out by spiritual-based treatments that don’t have to do with God. It encroaches too much on their territory.”

Meleliat says InSpa is very particular about where it goes within a shopping center. “We want to be in areas of the mall with easy access to the parking lot, but not adjacent to the food court,” said Meleliat. “They’re noisy and they’re smelly, and that can interfere with our customers’ sensory experience.”

There is something else Meleliat says InSpa does not want to interfere with the customers’ experience: tipping. Shirking spa tradition, the company does not allow its employees to accept tips from clients.

“We adopted our no-tipping policy because we found that tipping makes people uncomfortable,” said Meleliat. “People get confused about how much to tip, and the complexity that comes with it can be stressful. Philosophically, our mission is to eliminate the stress of your day, which is why we decided to take the tipping out. Our employees are paid professionals who earn competitive salaries.”

And so that customers know exactly what to expect, the company’s policies and price guides are clearly displayed above the front desk. “Many times when you walk into a spa, they hand you a 20-to-30 page, complicated menu that you might not understand,” said Meleliat. “It’s important for us to simplify the process so people looking to relax aren’t overwhelmed.”

Herman says that for InSpa to make its mark in the day-spa arena, it needs to be aware of its limitations. “The best way to get the spa experience is still to go to a destination spa,” said Herman, expounding on the virtues of a full retreat with its saunas, steam rooms and pools, as opposed to a mall pit stop.

“That being said, this can really work if they focus on making what they have work. If they’re only going to have a few treatment rooms, they need to make sure they are big enough so that guests and clients are comfortable.”

There is one other misgiving Herman has about the concept, though: that low pricing. “If they don’t allow their masseuses and estheticians to accept tips, they run the risk of losing those employees to spas that do,” said Herman. “More often than not, these employees are given a commission, and if InSpa is charging $70 for an hourly massage, if they’re not giving their employee $25-to-$30 of that, then they’re not getting a good deal. They learn very quickly if it’s not working, because there’s gonna be a revolving door. Talented people will obviously move on to where they will make the most money.”

Meleliat countered that InSpa employees receive a “competitive” salary, though she declined to be specific.

This time of year, though, InSpa managers expect the revolving door to be spinning in their direction — with customers looking for relief from the holiday shopping rush.