Avanti Day Resort – Manalapan NJ- Grand Reopening
AVANTI HOSTED A GRAND REOPENING ON SATURDAY
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Special events are planned at Avanti Day Resort, 345 Route 9 S., Manalapan, NJ
Handel regularly visits Avanti stylist Colleen Ganella for the full head of blond highlights she loves. But the 45-year-old Marlboro resident said she always feels like a new woman when she gets her style refreshed at the salon.
“You don’t get this kind of treatment (massage and styling services) at home,” said Handel, as she watched an episode of “The View” on one of the bar’s eight flat-screen television sets. “Then, you get home and everybody’s like, “You look great.’ That feels good.”
Handel wasn’t the only one with a new look. Surrounding her was the new Avanti, rebuilt in its former location after a March 2007 fire that gutted much of the building. The blaze, believed to have started in a nail-drying station, forced the staff to relocate temporarily to a nearby storefront.
The new 13,000-square-foot spa and salon features “layers of natural elements,” said Avanti spokeswoman Ellen Canto — from the hardwood floors and white-pebbled walls to the bamboo dividers and rock waterfall. She said the warmly lit, lounge-style space is the design handiwork of co-owner Luda Conti and New York-based architect Robert Henry.
“After the fire last March, I wanted to reinvent Avanti and make it better than ever,” Conti said. “People will be in such awe of the new facility and pampering from the staff that they will feel like they went away to a resort.”
Avanti clients are now greeted by a sleek concierge desk backed by a glass panel of cherry blossoms. A cafe serves up coffee, espresso, cappuccino, teas and snacks. A boutique offers products including handcrafted Sorrelli jewelry, Bare Escentuals natural cosmetics, and gift-basket fodder such as Stonewall Kitchen’s raspberry salsa and lemon pear marmalade.
“We’re trying to make it more like a lounge type of environment — that’s the way of the future for salons, so you can come in and just start relaxing,” said client services representative Janet Friedman.
And then there are the services.
The resort’s new Kerastase Paris Hair Spa, where stylists will offer the coveted L’Oreal-owned professional hair care line, is the first and only one in New Jersey, Canto said. The spa is to be revealed at grand reopening ceremonies Saturday.
At the 16-seat color bar, patrons may have their hair colored while watching one of eight flat-screen televisions with Internet service.
Men won’t be left out of the plentiful pampering. The resort’s 15 new treatment rooms — up from the previous 11 — include a couple’s room and an “executive male retreat,” where clients may opt for treatments including the “chairman’s massage” or barber services, Friedman said. The one-room retreat also offers a liquor bar, newspaper and flat-screen television.
“They just love the remote,” Friedman joked. “I don’t know how much they love the TV.”
“We wanted to make them feel more relaxed,” said Friedman, who said men often come in for massages and waxing. “When they walk in they’re a little hesitant, because they think (a spa) is just for ladies.”
Outside the day spa, chandeliers hang over a manicure area filled with high-backed banquettes. Pedicures are done over Murano glass bowls. A “tranquility room” offers a place to wind down before treatments.
Old client favorites, such as Avanti’s popular Vitamin C firming facial and caffeinated oil Mocha-ssage, will continue at the new site, staffers said. Other new services include teeth whitening, they said.
A sampling include a cut and style, for a men’s cut, a pedicure and a 90-minute massage; day spas are offered in a variety of packages, including specialty spas for brides , mothers-to-be , and even couples.
“To me, Avanti’s an experience,” said Sharon Stevenson of Marlboro, a seven-year Avanti client. “You come here and get treated and pampered from the minute you walk in the door to the minute you leave — not to mention the aesthetics.
“I loved the old Avanti so I knew what they were doing was going to be amazing,” said Stevenson, 47.
Clients such as Stevenson helped the salon rise from the ashes of last year’s fire, stylist Celal Ismet said, putting the finishing touches on Stevenson’s strawberry blond locks.
“I don’t have to put my name on a billboard (to bring clients to Avanti),” said Ismet, who added stylists are trained in a variety of skills including cutting and coloring, Japanese and Brazilian straightening and extensions. “The work we do here, our clients speak for themselves.”
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