The spa, called Power Image Inc., is owned by Concetta and Melford Bibens, who also run several online businesses.
The building at 5937 Main St. on Tannersville is on the market for $399,000 through Village Green Realty, which describes it as a “Manhattan-style gym and salon” on its Web site.

Warren Hart, director of Greene County Planning and Economic Development, said Power Image received funding through its Main Street Revitalization Program that helps small business owners refurbish buildings and facades. He believes the spa closed last year.

“It did open and was successful,” Hart said. “But it’s closed now.” Bankruptcy documents show that Greene County and NBT Bank are owed $270,000 by Power Image, although Hart said that that is the entire value of the mortgage of the property, much of which is owed to the bank, not the county.

“Our loan was substantially less than that,” Hart said. He declined to talk about specifics about the case, although he said he had seen some of the Internet venture that the Bibenses run.

According to various Web sites, the Bibenses now live in Sarasota, Fla. and run several Web sites, including one called Cashmakingpowersites.com that claims to help people make money online. The couple could not immediately be reached for comment, and their bankruptcy attorney, Ralph Lewis Jr. of Catskill, did not return a call seeking comment.

The bankruptcy filing for Power Image lists $295,000 in assets and $644,722 in liabilities. The filing was made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albany on Thursday.

The Hunter Foundation Inc. in Tannersville, is owed nearly $20,000 from a grant it provided to the couple for the spa. But Charlene Holdridge, the foundation’s executive director, declined to comment on the grant.

“Because it’s a grant, it’s confidential information,” Holdridge said.

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The Metro Spa and Salon in Latham, N.Y., has new owners.

Angela and Robert Horvath, operating under the name Lourdes LLC, recently bought the building and the business from the longtime owner, Arthene Lavalley.

The Horvaths paid $210,000 for the building at 350 Watervliet Shaker Road. The sale closed March 31 and was handled by Howard Carr of The Howard Group.

Financing was provided by KeyBank.

Angela Horvath estimated the value of the business at $500,000. There are 15 hair cutting stations, which Horvath said is considered large for the industry.

Lavalley, who had owned the business for 18 years, continues to cut hair there.

“I used to work here eight years ago,” Angela Horvath said. “This was my field until I started having children. Arthene and I ran into each other last Christmas. She was ready to sell and I was ready to buy.”

Horvath said she invested in a new computer system and will be offering laser hair removal. The spa side of the business has been more impacted by the economy than hair cuts, she said.

The cost of a hair cut for men and women ranges from $45 to $65.

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If you’re in business to sell cars, condos or cashmere sweaters in this economy, good luck. But in an ironic twist, peddlers of massages, facials and beauty treatments are still attracting customers despite the recession.

While a Swedish body massage isn’t in the same category as bread, milk and rent, devotees of such spa treatments say they are necessities nonetheless.

Spa operators report that stressful times are a good time to serve up stress-busting treatments.

Barbara Rosa, owner of Blissful Spa in Nyack, said that while business is off about 10 percent, her phone was “ringing off the hook” recently.

“I don’t think most people will cut out doing their hair, nails and getting massages and facials. It’s not that big an expense,” she said.

Like other spa owners, Rosa said the main effect of the dour economy is people are spacing out their treatments, from twice a month to once a month for example.

While many spas are offering deals and discounts to keep their treatment rooms full, Rosa said she hasn’t had to lower prices at Blissful, which charges $125 for a 90-minute massage and $90 for a 70-minute facial.

“We’re here eight and a half years. We have been slower during the weekdays, but people are still coming in,” she said.

Wendy Lee MacDowell, a Sparkill resident, visits Blissful every week or two for a 90-minute massage that she considers a “necessity” given her line of work.

“I do physical labor. I’m a locksmith. I am always bending over and pulling. Massages keep me functionally well. It’s not like having my nails done. Now, that’s a luxury,” she said.

MacDowell – who started her “Lady Locksmith” business in 1991 after she was laid off in a previous recession – said she’s recently done some economizing by giving up her landline phone in favor of her cell, but hasn’t considered giving up her massages. “It’s an essential part of my health care,” she said.

That’s a sentiment Michael Zeldes would second. Zeldes, an Irvington resident and senior vice president at Hub International Northeast Insurance Brokers in New York, gets a weekly massage at Oasis Day Spa in Dobbs Ferry.

Zeldes said his wife, Leslie, a pilates instructor, also gets massages and other treatments at the spa even as the couple cuts back in other ways to cope with the economy.

“We both understand you’ve got to work really hard right now,” he said. “But you also have to find time for your own health. At my last massage there, I felt almost like I was at a physical therapist’s office where they were really able to de-stress my body. I call it a necessary luxury.”

Zeldes has put a planned kitchen renovation on hold as well as plans to replace his 2000 Ford Explorer.

“It doesn’t seem like the right time to upgrade on something like that at the moment. But then again, when it comes to your well-being, you exercise and eat well, and part of that is finding ways to de-stress and have an outlet to make sure you get away from the everyday. You can’t just cut these things so quickly,” he said.

Angela DeAngellis, owner of Angelface Day Spa in Yorktown Heights, said customers tell her they are giving up other luxuries instead of their spa treatments.

“People are making sure to stay calm and relaxed and take care of themselves if they have the means. In this area, people still have a chunk of money they are willing to put aside for themselves,” she said.

DeAngellis, who has 22 employees and nine treatment rooms at her spa, said her revenue for 2008 was higher than 2007, despite the economy.

“I will be in business 14 years come October. I was very happy to see at the end of ‘08; we maintained a substantial client base. Just this month, it’s starting to subside a bit,” she said.
Discounts keep appeal

Eve Carnevalla, owner of Eve Day Spa in Cold Spring, said business has doubled on Tuesdays, when she offers 20 percent off.

“An $80 facial is now $64, and that’s now my busiest day by far. Everybody eats that up,” she said.

While her regulars have kept her in business, Carnevalla said she’s seeing some worrisome signs for the future among those who only come on special occasions or if they get a gift.

“I haven’t yet sold one gift certificate for Valentine’s Day. Last year was a lot better,” she said recently.

Catherine Holland, owner of Elements Spa in Piermont, said business has been slower even taking into account the cold weather keeping tourists away from the river town.

“We are still booking appointments, but I see people are all using gift certificates. People used to be more lax in cashing in certificates,” she said. “In times like these, people really need a massage, but they don’t want to spend the money for it, so they are really excited to get their gift certificates.”

The most reliable customers are those who view the spa as an extension of their health care, she said.

“We do have a number of clients who come regularly for therapeutic reasons, and they come weekly or twice a week. Those people are still coming,” she said. “People who see it as maintenance, not a spa treat or luxury, are still coming.”

But even among the regulars, Holland said some are opting for a 45-minute versus 90-minute massage.

“We’re not terrified. I look through the book and I wish it were busier, but I am pretty confident we’re going to get through this,” she said.

Fiona Velasco-Mills, manager of Adriana Spa in Eastchester, said a drop-off in holiday gift certificate sales had inspired sales for Valentine’s Day.

“We’ve reduced packages by 10 percent and we’ve tried to add extras on to make it seem like people are getting more for their money,” she said.

Eva Greenbaum, the manager of the new Nordic Lights Spa at the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown, said that while she expects the spa to have a steady client base from guests in the hotel, she’s also rolling out discounts.

“Everybody now has to have sales. What we will be having is a ‘pay for one facial and get a second at half price.’ With massages, we have ‘pay for three massages and get the fourth one free,’ ” she said.

Melinda Taschetta-Millane, editor of Skin Inc. magazine, which covers the spa industry, said it’s a good time for consumers as spas roll out promotions and discounts.

“Spas are trying to work with the economy they are given. While there are some clients cutting back, the majority of them see this as a lifestyle and way of wellness,” she said.
Do-your-own not the same

The International SPA Association reports there are more than 14,600 spas in the United States, most independently owned, Taschetta-Millane noted.

“The spa industry is definitely going to weather the storm,” she said. “It’s a strong industry. People see this as their well-being and important to their health.”

Treatments that are more about looks than relaxation might be easier for consumers to forgo.

Mary Shannon of Ossining said she used to get regular manicures but worries over the worsening economy got her spooked about spending extra cash.

Although she has a full-time job as a registered nurse at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, Shannon started to see the effects of the recession in how busy she was at work.

“I work in the operating room, and from September on, there were a lot less elective surgeries. Usually rooms would be busy from 7 a.m. to 5 at night, sometimes until 10 p.m.,” she said. “Now, day after day, even in daytime hours, we are sitting around. People aren’t having elective surgery. They are having surgery if they have to, but they are cutting back.”

Working less overtime, Shannon said a trip to a salon or spa isn’t an option anymore, though she misses the perk.

“I try to do home pedicures and manicures, but it’s not the same. You have to have the skill, and you need two hands to get a really good manicure,” she said.

She made one trip to a nail salon in the last few months for New Year’s Eve.

“Chances are I won’t go again until my birthday, which is in March. I don’t see myself going on a regular basis at this point in time. Right now, it’s a luxury I can’t afford.”

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Skincare salon to open

If you are a fan of the Bare Escentuals pure mineral skincare products, Kristi Bitetti is your go-to person.

Soon, you’ll be able to go to Bitetti’s own salon.

It’s Artistry in Hanover and has set Feb. 1 as the opening date for the salon at 123 E. Water St., in downtown Syracuse’s Hanover Square.

Bitetti has been floating among a few different salons, but now that she’s carrying the full line of Bare Escentuals products, it was time for a home port.

“I used to own salons and said ‘never again,’ but it was time,” said Bitetti. “I have to represent Bare Escentuals. I’m now an authorized retailer.”

Bitetti said she’s heard of some who have traveled to Rochester to get Bare Escentuals body products, which include the MD Formulations, Bare Minerals and Rare Minerals lines and more.

“I have them now,” said Bitetti.

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Like the Water, Grand Plans Buoy Spirits at a Vacation Spot From a Bygone Era

The Vanderbilts and the Macys were regulars. Oscar Wilde held readings of his latest works here. Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt came for brief respites.

For more than a century, vacationers from around the globe converged on this tiny village for its grand hotels and its unmatched view of the Mohawk Valley, as well as for its bubbling mineral springs. As crowds swelled from 600 people to 40,000 each summer, Sharon Springs became a backdrop to American history. But as interest in mineral baths faded, Sharon Springs – where large Victorian homes are tucked in the rolling countryside – threatened to become yet another forgotten upstate destination.

Today, however, a group of Korean businessmen say they are working on a $350 million plan to erect two 11-story hotels – including one with a helipad – a golf course, condominiums and a spa with a bathhouse and a day care center. If the plans come to fruition, Sharon Springs, which has a population of 548 and which only recently acquired cellphone service, would have to overhaul its tired infrastructure to keep pace with a modern, sprawling resort.

“Sharon Springs has to change,” said George Denning, the spokesman for the Korean investors. “Nothing has been happening in that town for years.”

But village officials have been working with the businessmen since 2006, listening to one majestic plan after another, and the officials appear to be caught among optimism, disbelief and some trepidation.

“We took it with a load of salt,” said Doug Plummer, co-owner of the American, a hotel built in 1847, who is a member of a village task force that for months held weekly meetings with the three businessmen. Although not one spade has been turned, Mr. Plummer said, “I’m very excited about the possibilities of this project. It’s positive for us and it’s positive for them.”

Sharon Springs, in Schoharie County about 20 miles northeast of Cooperstown, has long been known for its magnesium water, iron-rich water, sulfur water and “bluestone” water for healing the eyes. After a surge in interest in mineral baths in the early 1800s, the village bustled for more than a century. By the 1950s, the clientele was made up largely of middle-class Jewish families. Bingo games were called in English and Yiddish, and some hotels served kosher food.

David S. Wieder, 65, of Miami Beach, who was a boy when his father bought the Adler Hotel in 1951, remembered that Holocaust survivors would come for mineral bath treatments, sitting in tubs blackened by the sulfur water. “They said it helped,” he said, referring to the springs’ apparent medicinal qualities, which people sought for physical and spiritual healing.

But by 1971, the spa business had declined sharply, and Mr. Wieder said his father sold the Adler for $70,000 – less than a third of what it cost. Like many of the hotels here, it fell into disrepair, and by the 1990s the visitors who trickled in stayed primarily in small boardinghouses or were clustered on a few floors of the decaying properties.

Then in 2005, a local real estate agent sold three of the hotels, two bathhouses and the only village access to the mineral springs to an initial group of Korean investors for $750,000. The new owners, who were affiliated with Dongbu Travel and Tour, a company based in Flushing, Queens, which specializes in bringing Asian tourists to the United States, kept up the spa business for the 2005 season.

But Mr. Denning said that while they made some structural improvements, they ultimately decided that the buildings were beyond repair. When the hotels did not open in 2006, it was the first time since the early 1800s that the village did not have a mineral bath tourist trade.

But the owners promised to come back with a bigger plan.

Mayor Omer Cousineau said that over several months, the plans shown to officials changed from a $17 million historic renovation to a $34 million outline for new construction, and then to a $100 million resort.

“There were these big, grandiose buildings, and that changed the whole aspect of what we were seeing,” Mr. Cousineau said.

In the meantime, Dongbu brought in more investors, both Mr. Denning and village officials said, and more people wanted to weigh in on the future of Sharon Springs. After more than a year of weekly meetings with no clear blueprint, the village task force formed in response to these proposals disbanded last October. “I don’t think they knew what they wanted,” Mr. Cousineau said.

Since then, village officials have been awaiting word from the businessmen. “I’m still an optimist,” Mr. Cousineau said. “I think they’re going to do something.”

For his part, Mr. Denning said the group sees much potential in Sharon Springs, and hopes to complete construction in five to seven years.

“The Asian culture very much believes in spas,” Mr. Denning said, “and we’re trying to bring a whole new concept there.”

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Grand Union Motel owner selling for $6.

The owner of Grand Union Motel and Crystal Spa in Saratoga Springs NY is looking to sell the South Broadway business, two years after it was purchased.

Yong Brothers Trading Co. placed the 64-room motel and spa on the market Wednesday for $6.8 million.

Yong Brothers have owned the 2.62-acre business at the southern entrance to the city’s downtown, since Jan. 26, 2006. It was purchased from the Benton family for $5.8 million, according to city and county records.

The motel was listed with Coldwell Banker Prime Properties of Cohoes this week, according to agent Saborina Chin, who is handling the property.

The Saratoga Springs hotel and motel market has been a busy place for buyers and developers in the past five years.

A new 124-room Hampton Inn and Suites is scheduled to open this summer on Lake Avenue in the center of downtown.

That opening comes just three years after a 103-room Residence Inn by Marriott opened and four years after a 145-room Courtyard by Marriott was built.

Chin said the Grand Union Motel and Crystal Spa are profitable. She declined to say if competition was a factor in the owner’s decision to sell after just two years in business.

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