Renee’ Jankowsky, owner of Generations Salon and Day Spa, wins Triangle Business Journal’s coveted 40 Under 40 Award

Renee’ Jankowsky, owner and founder of Generations Salon and Day Spa in the Brierdale Shopping Center at Brier Creek in Raleigh, is the recipient of the region’s 40 Under 40 award, which recognizes the top young business leaders and owners under the age of 40 in the greater Raleigh Durham metropolitan area.

The annual 40 Under 40 award is highly competitive and Jankowsky was selected from a large pool of nominees. Her selection was based on the work she has done to build Generations into one of the leading high end day spas in eastern North Carolina. Generations is a full service Aveda-certified salon offering a wide variety of products and services. Jankowsky manages a staff of 28 employees and her business serves an estimated 3,000 guests per month.

She was also chosen because of the extensive work she and her staff have done over the past five years supporting area non-profits. Since opening Generations in 2002, Jankowsky and her staff have donated over $100,000 in time and services to a wide variety of worthy causes. Under Jankowsky’s leadership, Generations has helped such organizations as Interact (Wake County’s rape and domestic abuse crisis center), the MS Society, The Jimmy V Foundation, The Make-A-Wish Foundation and many other non-profit groups that help those in need, or raise research funds to cure critical illnesses.

“I am very honored by the award,” said Jankowsky. “I have one of the best spa staff’s in the region and want to thank them for for their talent and high standards. I could not have accomplished this or the success of my business without them. I also want to thank my husband, Alex, and my mother, Linda Bronson, for their support and acknowledge them for the role they have played making my business successful. Mother’s Day this week is a reminder of the key role my mother has played as a mentor and cheerleader for my success. We’re all looking forward to a great year in 2009. Also, I also want to thank the Triangle Business Journal for sponsoring this award and selecting a woman business owner as one of their honorees. I hope the fact that I have won is an inspiration to other woman in the business community with big dreams.”

The announcement that Jankowsky had been selected as a 2009 40 Under 40 Award recipient was made at a gala celebration May 1 in Raleigh hosted by The Triangle Business Journal. Jankowsky will be profiled in an upcoming story in The Triangle Business Journal, and her name and profile will be included in the region’s annual “Book of Lists,” which identifies eastern North Carolina’s top businesses and business leaders.

Generations Salon & Day Spa — Revive. Renew. Restore
Owned and operated by Renee’ Jankowsy, Generations offers the best salon and day spa services in the region, combined with a soothing, restorative experience that will bring out your natural beauty. Originally from New York, Renee’ has developed a loyal following since opening Generations in 2002 on Creedmoor Road. Her mother, Linda Bronson, is the spa director, and together Renee’ and Linda bring over 40 years of salon and day spa experience to Generations. In 2005, they moved Generations to a large, luxurious location in the Brierdale Shopping Center at Brier Creek, where they added staff and services, and expanded their impressive selection of skin and hair care products. Here, Renee’, Linda and staff serve a growing clientele that includes women and men of all ages, plus families and children. Generations offers a complete compliment of salon and spa services – expert hair styling and coloring, brow and lash tints, waxing services, manicures, pedicures, paraffin treatments, facials, massages, body wraps, and spa packages.

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Kathy Jennings wanted to parlay her experience with salon and spa services into her own business. But she needed a partner.

Jennings turned to a client, Traci Shelmon, who has a background in interior design and nursing.

The result of their partnership is Element Salon-Spa, which opened earlier this month in Town Square retail center in West Lafayette.

“The last two years, the location I worked at — I had some ideas of my own. They did not want to take the business in the way I wanted,” said Jennings. “We have 16 work stations, two massage rooms, two facial rooms. We also have three pedicure and three nail stations.”

The business has 30 employees and a commitment to going green.

“We’re environmentally friendly and do total recycling with color bottles and boxes. We have a recycling bin instead of a trash bin,” said Jennings. “Bottles of shampoo and conditioner that we sell, when clients bring back the empty bottle they get 10 percent off on a refill.”

New clients get a complimentary paraffin hand dip and a makeup touchover, valued at $40. Repeat clients also receive complimentary services.

BUSINESS NAME

Element Salon-Spa

LOCATION

925 Sagamore Parkway W., West Lafayette, IN

ABOUT THE BUSINESS

Employees have been handing out gift certificates at many West Lafayette businesses, and Shelmon is coordinating those efforts along with plans for an open house from 4 to 8 p.m. June 3, with a ribbon cutting scheduled for noon.

“It was right up my alley,” she said. “I used to do events coordination. I’ll be doing all of our events stuff.”

HOURS

10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

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Cash-strapped consumers across the country are tightening their belts, but they’re not squeezing out manicures, massages and other spa treatments, according to local stylists and salon owners who say their establishments are a great escape for people stressin’ about the recession.

A number of Concord spas and salons are reporting numbers that contradict economists who say things will get worse before they get better, their businesses bolstered by customers budgeting out little luxuries like twice-daily lattes, rethinking four-figure vacations and opting for trips to places in town where they can pamper themselves.

“People still want to be happy, they still want to look good, and they still want to feel good,” said Debbie Mikkelsen, a stylist at Naturally You, a six-month-old concept salon on Church Street in West Concord. “They’re finding a way to treat and pamper themselves and to find another kind of escape.”

At Naturally You, the stylists massage customers’ shoulders and serve tea with haircuts. Some customers are cutting back on big-ticket items like full-body massages and facials, but many report needing the Aveda experience more now than ever before, stylists there say.

“We like to think we go above and beyond cutting your hair and sending you out,” said Trinity Lourdes, a hairstylist at Naturally You. “We give people really an escape from the hectic, and make sure they really want to come in. They come in there and it’s like an oasis.”

During past economic downturns, The Mane Escape Salon and Day Spa suffered from customers foregoing nail treatments, waxes, facials and massages. But this time around, the Thoreau Street salon is thriving.

“That’s usually the first hit with the recession, but this time it hasn’t happened,” said Mane Escape owner Dee Joyce, who has been in the business 13 years. “I really think the bottom line is that people are still spending the little bit of money it takes to make themselves feel better. It’s not a $5,000 vacation; it’s an $80 facial or $100 highlight.”

At 1 on 1 Self Indulgence Spa, a Beharrell Street day spa about to celebrate its fifth anniversary, clients are coming on board faster than ever before, according to owner Cindy McCullough, who said she recently added two new masseuses to her massage team.

“We’re actually seeing an increase, but I won’t say that’s across the board, because a lot of spas and salons are closing,” McCullough said. “I think it’s really who your customers were in the beginning and how your customer service is. If you weren’t meeting the needs of your clients in the beginning, those are the [salons and spas] who are probably not going to make it through.”

Joyce and McCullough acknowledged that being located in an affluent suburban community has almost certainly helped business during these tough times. However, spa treatments are much more than a luxury, they say, and many people on the job-search look at facials, manicures and massages as an important aspect of personal health and interview preparation.

“People are taking better care of themselves, I think, and if they can’t invest in other things, they’re investing in themselves,” McCullough said. “People are coming in and wanting to do a series — to come in on a weekly basis — it’s something that can release the stress of life. It really isn’t a luxury. Taking good care of yourself is making you more valuable, especially as an employee, it makes you a better thinker.”

Routine recentering

On a recent Saturday, Brownyn Fryer and Monique Sternin emerged from massages at 1 on 1 feeling light-headed, as if they had just enjoyed a glass of wine.

Although it was their first time at 1 on 1, the women — both of whom are transplants to the Northeast — said they are well versed in the healing powers of massage, which they say New Englanders are very repressed about.

“It’s not just physical, it’s not just massaging your body, it’s being able to heal the whole person,” said Sternin, who came to Concord from France by way of southeast Asia. “It’s helping to realign things to get recentered.”

Spa treatments are something people must have time and money for, but Fryer, a journalist who moved to Lexington from California, says they’re well worth it, especially for those looking to leave behind their worldly worries for a few hours.

“It’s most important to budget something like this in,” Fryer said. “When people are under stress, the last think they do is take care of themselves, and it should be the first thing. … This is the kindest thing you can do for yourself.”

More and more people are wearing more and more hats as the busyness of every day life increases and companies cut headcounts. For Cindy Mello, a Maynard resident who handles corporate meetings for a biotech company, the best stress relievers are the massages, manicures and pedicures at 1 on 1, which have become an indelible part of her routine.

“I’m doing fine with my job and what have you, but if I was in a position where I had to cut things out of my budget, I think I would chose things other than my treatments,” Mellow said. “It’s a respite from everyday life. Honestly, I had to cancel a vacation recently, and I think of them almost like a staycation. If I can’t get away, I can go there and just relax.”

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SouthPointe Pavilions’ latest tenant, The Face Place Spa, opened Monday in space formerly occupied by Pixi Chix.

Though the tenant is a small local day spa, it’s a noteworthy addition, because it means SouthPointe is now 100 percent leased at a time when mall vacancies nationwide are skyrocketing.

“We have very tired leasing agents,” joked Julie Lattimer, SouthPointe’s marketing director.

SouthPointe’s leasing agents have probably been working harder to keep tenants than to find them.

SouthPointe has stayed full largely because national retailers have not defected, as they have from other malls, including Lincoln’s Westfield Gateway.

According to Reis, a commercial real estate analysis firm, mall vacancies approached 10 percent nationwide in the first quarter.

In Lincoln, the overall retail vacancy rate was 11.1 at the end of March, up from 10.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and up from 8 percent at the same time last year, according to a quarterly report from Grubb & Ellis Pacific Realty.

Kent Thompson, owner of Coldwell Banker Commercial Thompson Realty Group, said what SouthPointe has been able to do is nothing short of amazing.

“That shopping center is one of the top-performing shopping centers in the country,” Thompson said.

A big reason vacancy rates are climbing is that national retailers have cut back significantly.

“Retail is just going to be down for a long time,” Thompson said.

“The big issue is that national people are not willing to step out yet,” he said. “We’re a long way from that.”

Thompson has one of the few recent retail success stories: Earlier this month he announced that Rod Kush will open a 40,000-square-foot furniture store in the former Kmart building near 56th and Nebraska 2 — a building that has been vacant since Thompson and some partners bought it more than five years ago.

That occurred in the second quarter of this year. The Grubb & Ellis report noted that despite the uptick in vacancy, the first quarter was otherwise uneventful for retail, with no major openings or closings.

The report described the Lincoln market as “maintaining status quo.”

“Lincoln has remained below the radar … with little activity to note during the quarter,” the report said

The report noted that there have been small retail stores that have gone out of business, “but overall, Lincoln is surviving the recession fairly well.”

Even at Westfield Gateway, which has seen major tenants such as Steve & Barry’s and Circuit City, along with several smaller ones leave in the past year, things are looking up.

“I think we’ve started to get some things going in the right direction,” said Marketing Director Ryan Bouc.

A perfume shop called Perfume Point opened up last month next door to Lids, while a local shop that services computers and sells used ones, 123 System Solutions, is opening in the former Holway Formal Wear spot on the lower level.

Bouc said the mall also has plans for empty space in the food court that could mean new stores opening before the end of the year if all goes as planned.

While retail vacancy went up, the office vacancy rates in Lincoln actually decreased slightly in the first quarter — from 12.4 percent to 11.9 percent — according to the Grubb & Ellis report.

Industrial vacancy increased from 8.4 percent to 8.7 percent in the first quarter. That is better than the first quarter of 2008, when the rate was 9.5 percent.

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Mitchells Salon & Day Spa

* 8118 Montgomery Rd
* Cincinnati, OH 45236
* (513) 793-0900

Annual Revenue: $12,000,000
About Mitchells Salon & Day Spa

Mitchell’s Salon & Day Spa is the largest privately owned local salon and day spa in the greater Cincinnati area. With five locations city wide, we’re uniquely qualified to cater to your every beauty and spa need. Our size has enabled us to build an educational network which is unparalleled, offering both in-salon and big city workshops with the top names in national and international hair design. In turn, we draw a caliber of designers with the highest artistry and passion for their craft. The same holds true for our spa personnel, whose mastery will bring you to a state of heavenly comfort and tranquility. We were voted best pedicure in the city four times running and our facials receive rave reviews. And, though we may be large, we have used our size to design a space that allows for both privacy and intimacy. Our individualized salon stations and separate spa wings ensure your personal care and comfort.
Mitchells Salon & Day Spa Executives

* Deborah Mitchell-Buyniski [Founder and President]
* Laurel Smoke [Editor-In-Chief of Salon Today]
* Christi Burnett [Vice President, Operations]
* Sherry Williams [Vice President of Operations]
* Vivian Moore [Managing Vice President]

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There’s more than one way to skin a foot.

In his beauty salon wedged between a pizza parlor and a taco shop in a strip mall here, John Ho is letting small fish eat dead skin off his customers’ feet.

“Feels like a bunch of ants running across your feet,” said Bill Piatt, a Marine gunnery sergeant from nearby Fort Belvoir, after dipping his feet in a Plexiglas tank for 15 minutes of a fish-assisted pedicure. His wife, Leah, reclining on an adjacent chair, said the nibbling tickled — “a very odd feeling.”

Until Mr. Ho brought his skin-eating fish here from China last year, no salon in the U.S. had been publicly known to employ a live animal in the exfoliation of feet. The novelty factor was such that Mr. Ho became a minor celebrity. On “Good Morning America” in July, Diane Sawyer placed her feet in a tank supplied by Mr. Ho and compared the fish nibbles to “tiny little delicate kisses.”

Philip Shishkin Since then, cosmetology regulators have taken a less flattering view, insisting fish pedicures are unsanitary. At least 14 states, including Texas and Florida, have outlawed them. Virginia doesn’t see a problem. Ohio permitted fish pedicures after a review, and other states haven’t yet made up their minds. The world of foot care, meanwhile, has been plunged into a piscine uproar. Salon owners who bought fish and tanks before the bans were imposed in their states are fuming.

The issue: cosmetology regulations generally mandate that tools need to be discarded or sanitized after each use. But epidermis-eating fish are too expensive to throw away. “And there’s no way to sanitize them unless you bake them for 20 minutes at 350 degrees,” says Lynda Elliott, an official with the New Hampshire Board of Barbering, Cosmetology and Esthetics. The board outlawed fish pedicures in November.

In Ohio, ophthalmologist Marilyn Huheey, who sits on the Ohio State Board of Cosmetology, decided to try it out for herself in a Columbus salon last fall. After watching the fish lazily munch on her skin, she recommended approval to the board. “It seemed to me it was very sanitary, not sterile of course,” Dr. Huheey says. “Sanitation is what we’ve got to live with in this world, not sterility.”

Mr. Ho, a wiry 39-year-old, hopes the bans will lure pedicure tourists from fish-hostile states to the two Virginia locations of Yvonne Hair & Nails, which he owns with his wife, Yvonne Le. The salons charge customers $35 to have their feet nibbled by fish for 15 minutes.

When Mr. Ho was 5, his father put the family on a fishing boat, and like many others fleeing Communist Vietnam, floated out into the high seas, hoping to find a ship to rescue them. The Hos succeeded, and eventually settled in Virginia. Mr. Ho married his high-school sweetheart and the couple opened the Alexandria salon in 1997, while Mr. Ho continued to run a home-building business.

By 2007, they were looking for an alternative to pedicure razors, which are banned in many states as too prone to making dangerous cuts. Ms. Le heard from a customer about skin-eating fish in Asia, and Mr. Ho started doing research.

What he discovered, among other things, was an old Turkish legend about a shepherd who injured his foot and stuck it into a hot spring teeming with small fish. The foot healed. Word spread. A treatment center for skin ailments grew around the springs near the Turkish town of Kangal. From Turkey, the practice spread throughout Asia, employing garra rufa, toe-size carp that live in warm water, have no teeth and, according to those in the business, like to suck off dead skin. Another fish sometimes used to treat feet, called chin chin, is bigger in size and grows tiny teeth.

Last year, Mr. Ho and his wife traveled to a spa in Chengdu, China, had a full-body fish treatment and liked it. After returning, Mr. Ho wired the Chengdu dealer $40,000 for 10,000 fish.

At the back of the salon, he set up a communal fish tub for customers’ feet. The Fairfax County Health Department deemed the tub to be a public swimming pool and ordered it closed on health grounds.

Mr. Ho then designed individual Plexiglas tanks where water is changed after every use and fish can’t swim from one pair of feet to another. Since nobody is sharing the water, the county’s public-pool ordinance no longer applied. Virginia’s Board of Cosmetology has no jurisdiction over skin, unless it’s a face. So Mr. Ho was in the clear.

In Derry, N.H., salon owner Kim Ong heard about Mr. Ho on television, and traveled to his spa undercover, posing as a pedicure customer. She liked what she saw and bought 500 chin chin from a dealer in Washington state for about $6,000.

To New Hampshire regulators, Ms. Ong’s proposal to use fish for pedicures was nearly as unusual as an inquiry they once had about using snakes for massages. The answer, to both, was no, says Ms. Elliott of the cosmetology board.

Ms. Ong’s fish now swim in a decorative fish tank and eat regular fish food — or each other if they get too hungry. Ms. Ong says she plans to fight the pedicure ban.

State bans have disrupted Mr. Ho’s plans to build a nationwide franchise network. Currently, he has four active franchises, in Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and Missouri. But others have terminated franchise agreements. In Calhoun, Ga., Tran Lam, owner of Sky Nails, says she paid Mr. Ho $17,500 in exchange for fish and custom-made pedicure tanks. A few weeks later, in October, the Georgia Board of Cosmetology deemed fish pedicures illegal. “I’m very mad,” says Ms. Lam. “I lost a lot of money and the economy is so bad.”

In Kent, Wash., Bamboo Nails, another franchisee of Mr. Ho, is stuck with thousands of dollars of idle fish and equipment following a state ban last fall. The ban stemmed from a spot check of another salon where state inspector Susan Colard says she watched the owner — demonstrating the technique — stick her foot in a tank with so many fish droppings it was murky.

Proponents say fish pedicures are safe if the water is kept clean. “It is so out of the ordinary that the first reaction is to say ‘no,’ ” says Kevin Miller, executive director of the Ohio Board of Cosmetology.

In Nevada last month, state Assemblyman Tick Segerblom introduced a bill that would allow fish pedicures. Mr. Segerblom, who represents downtown Las Vegas, says he is acting upon the request of a Chinese constituent with a foot-massage business.

He made no prediction about the bill’s chances. But with everyone in the legislature obsessed with depressing things like deficits and the recession, Mr. Segerblom says, “It’s the most popular bill in the building.”

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Brent Johnson realizes people are cutting back on vacations in this tight economy. Because of that, he wants his salon — Square One Salon and Spa — to provide its customers a few hours of relaxation.

A lot of companies talk about customer service, but Johnson said in the salon industry, even a minor service gaffe can cost customers and tarnish a salon’s reputation.

So Johnson and his fellow owners instituted numerous policies to ensure those gaffes or oversights don’t occur, leaving customer feeling their dollars are well spent.

As such, Square One — which operates a downtown Dayton salon and one in Centerville — continues to flourish with revenue growing 20 percent last year to $2.5 million.

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Mirabella Salon and Day Spa recognized

Merrimack’s Mirabella Salon and Day Spa, owned by Lisa Dunning, recently was named one of the 200 fastest-growing salons in North America by Salon Today magazine, a top business publication for salon and spa owners.

The magazine’s 12th annual Salon Today 200 profiled the selected salons in its January 2009 issue. The 200 salons were selected from applications submitted by Salon Today readers, who represent the 25,000 top-producing salons and spas in the country. The magazine honored the applicants who posted the highest increases in gross sales between 2006 and 2007.

Mirabella Salon and Day Spa opened in March 2005.
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Andover spa owner cited for practicing medicine without a license

The owner and operator of an Andover spa last week entered into a diversion agreement with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts Board, following an investigation into whether she practiced medicine without a license.

Stacy Truesdell owns TA LLC, which does business as True Aesthetics Premier Laser and Medical Spa.

The board investigated allegations of instances occurring in October and November 2008. The board alleges Truesdell performed medical procedures without the supervision of a licensed practitioner of the healing arts and gave the impression she was appropriately trained and able to practice healing arts. Both are violations of Kansas law.

Procedures in the investigation included: Botox injections, laser hair removal treatments and laser surgery.

However, the board says it received no reports of any clients being injured as a result of the procedures performed.

The healing arts board says Truesdell cooperated fully with the inquiries, including providing documents in response to two administrative subpoenas and discussing the matter with board’s representatives.

Because of Truesdell’s corporation, the board agreed to forego any litigation as long as the terms of the agreement are met. The diversion agreement specifies:

• Truesdell will no longer perform Botox injections.

• TA LLC can’t employ anyone to perform Botox injections.

• Truesdell will no longer perform laser treatments.

• TA LLC will no longer employ anyone to perform laser treatments.

• Truesdell will cooperate with the board and its investigators concerning any subsequent investigations.

• TA, LLC will not use the term “medical” in any manner, including, signage and letterhead.

These stipulations, the board says, are subject to change should Truesdell become licensed.

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