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FOUNTAINS OF YOUTH

MEDICAL SPAS NOW OFFER COSMETIC TREATMENTS RANGING FROM BOTOX TO LIPOSUCTION

By Molly Knight

For many shoppers, a trip to the mall is an uplifting experience — a shot in the arm, as it were. Now many are heading to the mall for a shot in the forehead, or a zap to the thighs. This is because now, more than ever, shopping centers are welcoming medical spas that offer cosmetic touch-ups.

According to the International Medical Spa Association, the number of U.S. medical spas is 2,500 this year, up from fewer than 50 in 2002. Most of these clinics, which generate a combined $1 billion in revenue annually, operate within malls and street centers, industry experts say.

Five years ago the thought of Botox injections or cellulite removals at a mall would have left even the most open-minded landlords and adventurous shoppers feeling squeamish. Attitudes have changed, though, as cash-flushed baby boomers, barreling inevitably toward senescence, continue to obsess over remaining forever young. At the same time, age-defying cosmetic procedures have proved to be relatively safe, says Doug Chambers, a principal of Blu Spas, a spa design, consulting and management company with offices in Whitefish, Mont.

“Fundamentally, it’s a burgeoning phenomenon, because it’s a cash business, which obviously makes these clinics desirable tenants,” said Chambers. “People in the industry have a much keener awareness about the small risks associated with these treatments, so it’s no longer a deterrent. I get cold calls from developers every week saying, ‘Hey, we want to put one of these spas in our center.’ They understand the benefit of attracting an affluent clientele who might get a shot of Botox and then spend the whole day at the mall.”

Chambers says a big reason the business is burgeoning is that many doctors are fed up with the pay scale in traditional medicine. “Because you’re not dealing with insurance companies, the profitability is gargantuan,” Chambers said.

It is easy to see why. For $300 a doctor can purchase a vial of Botox that treats six people, then turn around and charge each patient about $350 for a quick injection, Chambers says. “You figure a doctor can knock out 10 to 12 Botox customers in an hour and bring in $4,000,” said Chambers. “A regular doctor collects a fraction of what he or she would if they were working in one of these clinics, so a lot of them cross over, and the money is a beautiful thing that changes their universe.”

Shopping center managers see these clinics’ potential to draw fat-wallet customers through the services they offer. “We like to put really specialized stores in our center,” said Christina Lanoue, senior property manager at the Westcor-owned Chandler (Ariz.) Fashion Center. “We like to consider our center as a one-stop shop for our customers,” Lanoue said, “and if that includes a Botox injection or another treatment to enhance someone cosmetically in an appropriate clinic, then why not?”

One such clinic at Chandler Fashion Center is Skinovative, a Tempe, Ariz.–based skin-treatment company that operates 10 clinics, in Arizona, Idaho, Texas and Las Vegas. Those units have been so successful that founder Vincent Wells says the company plans to expand to 200 units by the end of 2010. Besides the Chandler clinic, the company also operates in General Growth Properties’ Tucson (Ariz.) Mall and Boise (Idaho) Towne Square, and at the Simon Property Group–owned Galleria, in Houston. Skinovative’s first clinic in a lifestyle center opened in October at Westcor’s SanTan Village, in Gilbert, Ariz. The other five units are in medical office plazas.

“Skinovative has been a wonderful addition to the property,” said Lanoue. “They attract baby boomer women between 40 and 60 years old with more disposable income than the average shopper, and that’s a fantastic customer to welcome to our center.”

When Wells opened Skinovative’s first clinic, in Boise, in 2001, he had a hunch that aesthetic medical clinics such as his would be a good fit in shopping centers. “The retail environment felt like a great, nonthreatening way to put it out there for people who were curious to find out more,” said Wells. “Customers are comfortable walking into the store to pick up information, say, on their way to the food court or their favorite department store.” Dillard’s and Lane Bryant flank the Skinovative unit at Chandler Fashion Center.

Sales vary by location, but the Skinovative units take in between $500 and $1,000 per square foot, Wells says. Skinovative offers such services as laser wrinkle reduction, blue-light therapy for acne control, tooth whitening, tattoo removal and laser vein removal. The cellulite-reduction services account for 20 percent of sales, and Botox injections make up 10 percent. A single cellulite-reduction treatment takes 30 minutes and costs between $500 and $700, Wells says.

The company promises noticeable cellulite reduction after a series of five treatments, meaning the average customer would have to spend between $2,500 and $3,500 to see the promised results. One of the benefits offered by Skinovative and most medical spas within shopping centers is that clients need not convalesce. “We dissolve fat without needles, so there is no pain,” said Wells. “Our customers walk out after they are done, and they are able to continue shopping.”

Skinovative plans to open about half a dozen more clinics in Houston, and two or three in Tampa by the end of 2007, says Wells, who declined to give specific locations citing pending negotiations.
Going forward, the company is likely to expand most in lifestyle centers and at street locations, says Wells. “I’m a strong advocate for indoor centers as a great way to build brand recognition, but we’re running out of good centers in areas where we want to be,” said Wells. “We’re really looking to make a push to cluster our clinics in metro areas in Arizona, Florida and Texas, and once we open in all the malls we like, we’ll have to move on to outdoor centers.”

Skinovative’s business model of doctor-owned clinics allows it to expand faster, observers say. The company licenses the Skinovative brand to physicians who wish to own their own cosmetic medical practices. “A lot of doctors want to go into this to make more money, but it’s usually very challenging for them to build a brand,” said Wells. “Once we find the right physicians to partner with, we train them in our program, help them get set up with the equipment they need, and then advertise to drive traffic to their clinics.”

The doctor-owned clinics help a spa’s credibility, sources say, but many consumers are still nervous about receiving medical treatment, no matter how superficial, in a shopping center. “Right now there aren’t any aesthetic clinic brands in centers that consumers really know and trust,” said Wells. “We’re looking to become the first.”

And with 76 million baby boomers navigating through a culture that seems to become more youth-obsessed every day, sources say there’s no time like the present for these companies to attend to the foreheads, thighs, stomachs and arms of America.