Just received notice from Salon Today magazine that we are one of the winners for the 2009 Salon of the Year contest. We were voted as a Salon of Distiction. I am really excited about this honor. There were over 100 salon’s entered from around the world. The designs were amazing for all the salons. I am very pround to be listed among the other winners. Check out the June issue of the article.

Reaching Gold LEED certification  means more than you can imagine. When we first started out with this challenging process, we met people who thought we were crazy. We were discouraged by some who thought the task was far to difficult to accomplish for a small busines of my size and to expensive to achieve .  They told me that I didn’t have to become LEED certified just to call myself a “green spa” .  But to me it was more than calling ourselves a green spa.  LEED is a score card through the US Green Building Council which proves your authenticity.  Not many people can say they are LEED Certified.  They were right about one thing, I didn’t have a huge budget to pay for the professionals that ordinarily do all the research and work to achieve this status. But that thought is exactly what made this such a rewarding feat. In order for us to accomplish this Gold LEED certification, we had to do the work ourselves. That very thing is what makes this project so unique and so personally rewarding. My brother, my father, myself and even my two boys contributed to the success of this project. We did the research and the grunt work.  We sorted the metal studs, wire, electrical parts, ceiling tiles, and more. We were the ones who actually “got our hands dirty” and measured walls, marked out the floors, researched the materials and ran around to all the different suppliers researching what was available to us.  We had to learn the LEED process and requirements all while doing the actual work.  We were the ones who worked the hardest and achieved our personal goal.  At first we were completely overwhelmed with everything but in the end, the challenging process is what makes this so personally rewarding.  We didn’t just pay someone else to do the work, WE did the work.  So now saying we achieved Gold LEED Certification for New Construction really means WE ACHIEVED our dreams. ….-we became the FIRST  Gold LEED Certified New Construction Spa in the country.

Yesterday we received notification from the US Green Building Council that we have been approved for Gold LEED certification for New Construction. We are so pleased. We will be receiving a beautiful plaque from USGBC which we will display in our reception area. We did do a search and found that we are the FIRST Gold LEED certified spa in the country for New Construction. This has been a really long process and I am thrilled with the outcome. Most of our points were achieved in the energy section. This has also been the area with the greatest amount of savings for our business. I would love to share my story with other small business owners. It can be done. You don’t have to be intimidated by the huge amount of documentation. I think we have learned a few things along the way that can help make this possible for other small business owners. My brother Tony is a licensed professional structural engineer and is going to become LEED certified himself. I am happy that he is going to pursue this after completing this project so successfully. He will be able to help other small businesses along the way and to accomplish their dreams of becoming LEED certified too!

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I just returned from the International Beauty Show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. I have to say, I am a bit disappointed at the show this year. In the Esthetic Spa section, there were only 5 isles of vendors. There was nothing new and not much excitement. I think this may have been the smallest turn out in many years. In years past this has been huge! I walked through the entire esthetics section in less than an hour. I think it was practically a wasted trip.

I am going to attend the New York Spa Owners meeting in two weeks for the first time. I suspect that that will be a far more worthwhile endeavor.

Just checked the LEED on line web page and the status of our project looks really good. Right now we have enough points approved to reach Gold Level! We are in line to be certified for New Construction. I can’t tell you how happy I will be when this is officially awarded. As soon as it is made official, we will be the first NEW Construction Gold Level Spa in the Country! Wow! I know there are a few others that have also become LEED Certified.

There are different categories for which you can become certified and each category has several tiers of success. I would love to meet the other owners who went through this process. It is not an easy task for a small business. I know from my own experience, we almost didn’t go through with it because of all the detailed documentation and because of how difficult it was to retrieve the proper documentation or “proof” if you would to satisfy the requirements. It would be such a pleasure to share our stories and help the other spa owners in the country follow in our foot steps. Hopefully from our challenges, mistakes and triumphs, we can help more spas reach this goal. The wellness benefits of the services that we offer our guests, make this a natural next step for those owners who truly want to offer a total wellness experience. I had a conversation at my spa today with a guest who was there for the day having several services. Her comments to me were that “while she was having her services, she enjoyed knowing that she was also benefiting from the surroundings.” Our guests appreciate what we did and I would love to share our experience with others. So……If you are another owner who has a LEED certified spa, let’s talk! I would love to share our experiences.

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The 10th annual Spa Week Event will be taking place the week of April 13-19.  We will be joining  700 spas across the country offering a few of our signature services at a special price of only $50.00.  The goal of Spa Week is to introduce consumers to the benefits of a healthy lifestyle by having spa services that focus on “wellness”.

As the full impact of the economic downturn becomes painfully apparent, millions of Americans are experiencing the financial challenges of an uncertain future.  So, it goes without saying that stress has become an everyday companion for many of us.  This is unfortunately the start of a cycle where the average consumer cuts back  on many of life’s necessities.  Never before has Spa Week’s message been more relevant  than in these trying times.  The spa lifestyle is not only essential to maintaining one’s health and well-being, but it’s now available this week at an affordable price for everyone.

We will be featuring our Body Oil Ceremony Massage, Eclat Cacoon Hot Stone Facial Treatment, Rene Furterer Scalp Treatment and Haircut, and our Sukapao Foot Beauty Ritual.  These services all typically range in price from $77.00-$119.00 and will all be offered at $50.00.

We will also be featured on Channel 13 noon news on Tuesday April 14th, to discuss spring hair and makeup as well as the kick off of Spa Week.

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Image by Wade Roush via Flickr

I recieved an email a few days ago letting us know the status of our LEED certification.  Some of the points we applied for we did recieve and some needed additional clarification.  We had to send it over to the electrical engineer who is working on the project. Many of the points in question pertained to the energy savings.  This I feel is one of our strongest areas.  We should be in good shape.  After she reviews the items in question we can resubmit our application.  It has taken several months and they have been a bit behind.  There are now 4 spas in the country who are certified.  I’m not sure if any of them are New Construction LEED Certified.  We still may be the first.  I need to confirm that with the US Green Building Council.  It shouldn’t be much longer before we get our answer.

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We have been in our new Complexions Spa location at 221 Wolf Road for eleven months now.  Earlier this week, I decided to take a quick look at the actual energy savings – if any – we’ve enjoyed thus far.  Here is the quick, back-of-the-napkin rundown:

In our previous location we had 4200 sf.  In our new location we have 8450sf. Thus far, monthly electric bills at 221 Wolf Rd average about $2200.00 which is equal to approximately $.26 per square foot.   After approximating our cost per square foot at the previous 4200 sf. location over several years, I’m happy to announce that total energy costs are down by approximately 34% .  Not too shabby!

This isn’t to say that the recent drop in global commodity prices (energy in particular) hasn’t been noticed. It has – but not because of any short-term monetary gains. On the contrary, the energy twists & turns  have reminded me of how it used to be at our old location where we spent countless hours coming up with superficial ways to reduce our monthly energy bills.  Rather distracting to say the least!  What’s more, at the end of the day, it really didn’t matter what I did because when if oil prices spiked up – so did the bills – regardless of any and all energy saving actions. Which brings me to one of the best parts about having designed and engineered the new Complexions to regulate nearly every power-sucking machine, room and/or appliances in as efficient a manner as possible. Looking back over the last several months, I find it difficult to pinpoint any amount of time spent worrying about such matters. In others words, the new Complexions facility essentially manages itself. And therein lies the magic behind good green construction – it frees you from the growing distractions of uncontrollable energy prices, leaky faucets, left-on light bulbs, inefficient air-circulation systems, etc etc.  So for Complexions, building GREEN definitely cost a bit more upfront – no doubt about that – however ….in the long term ….I believe our investments will more than pay for itself (which is what all good investments do!).

So in summary, the last several months worth of energy savings have exceeded my expectations.  Going GREEN has thus far proved to be a very sound – very pro-growth decision for our company.  Despite doubling both the size and scope of Complexions  via 2x the number of treatment rooms and and nearly 3x the amount of retail square footage we’ve (somehow) managed to keep month-to-month expenses flat (if not down).  Best of all, we’re coming in well below my ‘expected expenses’ long term budget plans- plotted long ago when gas was nearing $4 . Amazing how fast things change.

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Complexion’s has always been a spa that focuses on the wellness side of the services that we offer but now more than ever we are very careful with how we send this message to our guests.  We do not use words like pampering and luxury.  We have started to explain the benefits of our services along with words like affordable, de-stressing, promoting wellness, mental clarity and more.  We have also committed to continuing our “sparties” on the third Thursday of every month.  This has proven to be a wonderful way for our guests to experience a complimentary sampling of a “featured” vendor or service.  We charge our guests a $25.00 reservation fee which assures they will commit to coming in and they can apply that money toward a retail purchase made that evening for the “featured” product.  We also give our guests a 20% discount on booking their appointment for the full experience of the featured service.  Another wonderful service we have offered to our menu in a 6:30 Metta on the Mat (metta means loving kindness in Thai) morning class.  This is a way for our guests to greet the day with a gentle stretching and meditation.  What a wonderful way to start the day.  We offer fruit, yogurt, tea, and full use of our steam room, sauna, and shower facilities.  This has not only opened up a new influx of clients new to our facility, but it also generated additional income for us at a time that we normally did not have any income.  We are using our relaxation room which is a green house so you can see the sun coming up.  It’s just wonderful.   Even in this economy, there are ways for us a spa owners to get creative and to get back to the true meaning of spa services.  It has always been and should be about the wellness.  I completely disagree with spa services being pampering ……..this is our opportunity as a spa professionals to get back to the origins of the spa industry…..