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Cave Creek spa files for bankruptcy, employees out of work
Employees of a Cave Creek resort are out of work Tuesday after their employer filed for bankruptcy and said there’s no money to pay them.
Rancho Manana Resort and Spa filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month and an attorney said the company has no cash to pay the employees right now.
“Customers with gift cards [Read more →]
It looks as if the summer has been hard on Scottsdale Spas with another spa closing.
On their website, the owners Margo and Alsion Zelenski, left a final note. I would like to commend them for keeping their clients informed and providing information on their employees. Unlike Massagiano which disconnected the web and the telephone.
Below is the information from their website:
As of Saturday, August 9th, The Massage & Esthetics Studio has been forced to close its doors. Unfortunately, the slow economy and the enormous increase in competition has made it impossible for us to continue.
We are devastated, and deeply apologetic to all our loyal clients and staff. It has been our pleasure to serve you for the last 5 years.
Sincerely,
Margo Zelenski
Alison Zelenski
Contact your massage therapist from The Massage & Esthetics Studio
Here is the contact information for our available therapists, if you would like to contact them for services. They have also offered to accept outstanding gift cards and series for a limited time at 50% off the normal price. Please contact them for details.
Lora Vance (602) 525-4553
Teralin Dillman (623) 418-9560
Kylah Alford (602) 677-0971
Katie Guisinger (480) 789-9055
Bre Terry (480) 252-2441
Carrie Bawol (480) 797-6519
Sonya Rangel (480) 285-8685
Offer from Bella Tu Day Spa
Bella Tu Day Spa in Scottsdale is offering The Massage & Esthetics Studio clients a first time massage for just $49. Please contact them to schedule an appointment or for their policy regarding accepting current MES gift cards at a discounted rate:
Apparently Massaggiano Spa in Scottsdale Arizona has gone out of business. Closing it doors on Monday May 12th due to financial difficulties.
The telephone has been disconnected and their website www.massaggiano.com now hosts online ads. According to godaddy records, the site was placed to auctioned on 8/25/08 http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:SaztxnzpOcsJ:https://www.tdnam.com/trpItemListing.aspx%3Fmiid%3D15971531+Massaggiano+%22closing&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
The Better Business Bureau, noted Aug 18, 2008 … Massaggiano Day Spa … has gone out of business and the gift certificates are now invalid. …
A spa gift certificate is a wonderful gift, but do not take a chance that your spa will close, go out of business or have new owners. Spavelous is a safe spa gift card that you can give with confidence. It is accepted at any spa where Visa is accepted
According to a press release from last year a franchise was sold for Gilbert.
If you know anything about this closing please let us know.
SCOTTSDALE-BASED MASSAGGIANO, THE MASSAGE SPA, SELLS NEW FRANCHISE TO OPEN IN GILBERT
Michelle Novak, founder and president of Massaggiano, The Massage Spa, an award-winning membership-based massage spa franchise based in Scottsdale, Ariz. has awarded her latest franchise to Gilbert, Ariz. resident Barbara Reed. The new location is scheduled to open in April, and will be located in Higley Park Commons on the northeast corner of Ray and Higley roads in Gilbert.
Reed, who was aspiring to become a physician, decided that her true passion could be better expressed through starting her own health-related business. Thus began her search for an opportunity to help people pursue wellness and balance in their lives through alternative therapies.
“Massaggiano is the perfect choice for me as a business owner,” said Reed. “Being a long time massage customer, I found the Massaggiano concept to be exactly aligned with my expectations
of service; Michelle has perfected the massage spa experience.”
Novak began Massaggiano in 2004 as a solo entrepreneur, always with the vision of franchising the concept. National franchise opportunities are available. More information can be found at
www.massaggiano.com.
“The massage and spa industry is booming and continues to grow each year, making Massaggiano a perfect choice for anyone looking for a successful franchise opportunity,” said Novak. “The Massaggiano concept is particularly attractive to women entrepreneurs and unlike other industries, the spa industry is timeless and resilient to change – a great massage will never lose its touch.”
Novak is also an advisory board member of the Women’s Franchise and Distribution Forum, an international non-profit organization whose mission is to connect results-oriented female
franchisees and prospective franchisees to essential tools, tactics and strategies designed to position them for personal and professional success. The group’s goal is to be the premier knowledge and networking resource for women in business regarding US and international franchising, licensing and distribution.
The Massaggiano concept provides guests with an exceptional experience by offering a consistently great massage in a beautiful, relaxing Tuscan-style setting, with award-winning customer service, at great membership prices. Massaggiano, winner of the Best Massage Award in 2006, is a member of the International Spa Association, the International Franchise Association and the Better Business Bureau. More information on Massaggiano’s franchise opportunities can be found at www.massaggiano.com. More information about the Women’s Franchise & Distribution Forum can be found at www.womensfranchiseforum.com.
Hair no more….
Regis to close 160 salons in effort to shave operating costs
Edina MN-based Regis Corp. said Wednesday it will close about 160 underperforming salons in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom in the next six months as it tries to cut costs. Four of the stores will be in Minnesota, though a company official declined to offer specific locations.
The stores make up less than 2 percent of the chain’s 8,500 company-owned salons, which operate under the names Regis Salons, MasterCuts, Cost Cutters, Supercuts and Trade Secret, among others.
The closings come in addition to the 200 or so low-performers that Regis typically shuts down each year when leases run out, Regis CEO Paul Finkelstein said. The company said it would offer employees jobs in nearby salons.
“Every store that opens isn’t a home run,” said Stan Pohmer, a Twin Cities retail consultant. “At some point you have to identify your chances of turning them around. … It’s just good business management to go in and cut out the low-hanging fruit that’s sucking all your resources out. It’s not something that hints at problems endemic with the company.”
Regis expects to shutter 100 stores at regional malls, 40 at strip malls and 20 in the United Kingdom. About a third of the closings will come from the struggling Trade Secret stores, the rest from a “myriad of brands,” Finkelstein said. Many of the stores were located in malls that were struggling or in strip centers that had lost major tenants.
None of the 2,178 SmartStyle salons that operate in Wal-Mart SuperCenters will be closed, Finkelstein said.
Regis expects to record a pretax charge of $20 million to $25 million to close the stores before the end of their lease terms, a cost Finkelstein said will ultimately boost profits by reducing the drain on time and resources.
Regis said it will write down $4.5 million, or 6 to 7 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, which ended June 30. The remainder of the charges will be recorded in the first half of the fiscal year.
Shares on Wednesday closed at $26.81, down almost 2 percent, in a day most of the market’s major indexes closed down by a similar amount.
Regis has spent the past 18 months focusing on internal efforts to reduce costs, including consolidating contracts for janitorial services and office supply vendors and reducing the number of small parcel posts.
Combined with price increases across nearly 6,000 locations, Finkelstein said, the measures helped boost third-quarter net income.
Meanwhile, Regis is pushing forward with new concepts despite cutting its new-store construction in half as consumers make fewer visits to the salon for haircuts, products and other services.
On Aug. 8, Regis plans to open what Finkelstein describes as a “quality, high-end barbershop” called Raze, located off of Hwy. 62 and Shady Oak Road in Minnetonka. Haircuts will run $25 to $30, and come complete with hot towels, Internet access, bottled water and other amenities.
Full Article
This is why it is important that if you are purchasing a Spa or Salon gift card that you purhase on e tat is good at any spa or salon that accepts Visa like the Spavelous Gift card, you do not have to worry about the business going out of business or closing.
Spavelous Spa Gift Cards may be redeemed at any Spa or Salon that accepts
Visa® cards.
Why Give a Spavelous Spa Gift Card?
Spavelous Spa Gift Cards may be redeemed at any day spa, resort spa, destination spa or salon that accepts Visa® cards
With Spavelous Spa Gift Cards there are no limitations on what spa services, spa products or spa packages that you may redeem it for. You may use them on discounted spa services and spa packages.
Gift Cards may be personalized with recipients name and a special message
Send a free e-card to your spa gift card recipient.
You may check your balance on line or using a toll free number.
Spavelous Spa Gift Cards give your gift recipient the choice of where and how they spend it. You never have to worry about a spa closing or changing ownership because Spavelous Spa Gift Cards may be redeemed at any day spa, resort spa, destination spa or salon that accepts Visa® debit cards.
BANKRUPTCY FILING
As the economy slows, the nationwide Solana chain of 50-plus franchised medical spas has locked its Irvine headquarters, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, shut down its Web site, and disconnected its phone. Their website indicates that another site is being developed by Higher Images. Higher Images is a SEO and Internet Marketing and web design company.
The following is from a Medspa Blog:
Seems that Solana Medspas site is down. I’ve received two emails this morning asking if they’ve gone out of business and this comment on a Solana discussion thread in the forums:
“Well it looks like Buckingham and company can’t hurt anyone else. The website is down and they are nowhere to be found. Hey, Over It…the truth hurts. Are you sure you aren’t a Solana Owner in denial or just covering your rear end? Between the University of Arizona charges, Brooks College 60 Minutes expose and firing, Health West fiasco and connections, continuing client failures, deadbeat dad website stating a failure to pay tens of thousands in child support to his ex-wife (which was the final straw on why we didn’t contract with Solana), etc… Wake up everyone associated or affiliated with Buckingham. it is time you recognize him for who he is before he hurts more people.”
I don’t know why the Solana Medspas site is down but it can’t be a good sign. (The first time you load the page you may see a little ‘Solana Medspas Logo’ flicker for just a second before you’re redirected to the under construction page. This is usually a sign that the ISP has suspended the account.”
Neither the company’s chief executive, William Maya, nor its bankruptcy attorney could be reached for comment.
The company founder, John Buckingham of Mission Viejo, said he sold Solana on Nov. 20 to a private equity company in San Clemente and could not speak in detail about its current status.
Buckingham remained a director of the company, which helped entrepreneurs set up medical spas that provided spa services plus non-invasive cosmetic medical procedures such as Botox injections.
As recently as March, Buckingham predicted that the nation’s economic slowdown would help Solana MedSpas by freeing up new retail locations for its medical spas.
In an interview with CNN/Money, he said he was “excited about taking advantage of this year’s store vacancies to open another 20 locations in malls.”
At that point, he said Solana had 50 spas “located in upscale strip centers and lifestyle centers, which are typically open-air malls.”
In May, Solana struck a deal with cosmetic-laser company Cutera Inc. of Brisbane, Calif., which declared Solana the “preferred provider” for its products at medspas nationwide.
That announcement said Solana “has sold over 70 stand-alone retail med spas with others scheduled to be opened in 2008” and had established a new division, Solana MD, to open aesthetic spas in doctors’ offices.
Solana’s filing said it had $370,028 in liabilities but assets of only $11,713.
FRANCHISE ADS
Solana MedSpa franchises are still listed as for sale on franchising Web sites, with a total investment of $400,000 to $780,000.
The Franchise.com site, for example, says:
Solana MedSpas has forged a new medical spa model by combining cutting-edge aesthetics and wellness technologies with traditional spa therapies in a retail environment.
In a short period of time, Solana MedSpas has become a nationwide leader in medical spa development with a growing network of uniquely branded medical spas. With an emphasis on regulatory compliance, healthcare innovation, education, marketing and customer service, Solana MedSpas has emerged as the fastest growing developer of MedSpas in the US.
The Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing means that the company will be liquidated, not reorganized.
BANKRUPTCY DETAILS
Solana’s current owner is Strategic Connections L.P., which is listed in the July 7 bankruptcy filing as “c/o WEM Management Company, 422 Avenida Salvador, San Clemente.”
The company’s largest listed creditor is its owner, which had floated it a $160,000 loan.
Solana said it had income of $456,989 so far this year from its consulting services to owners and operators of spas.
It paid Maya $161,112 in salary from Nov. 24, 2007, through June 24, the bankruptcy filing said. Buckingham’s salary for that period was $148,918.
The one company-owned medical spa, Resolutions, A Solana Medspa, also filed for bankruptcy under its legal name, Solana Medspa Development LLC.
The Resolutions medspa, located in a Rancho Santa Margarita shopping center, closed suddenly two weeks ago without explanation, said a hairdresser working in the adjoining hair salon.
The medspa listed assets of $11,713 and liabilities of $121,329. It cited $0 as the value of its unsold inventory of cosmetics, cosmeceuticals and Botox, which were purchased for $51,388.
Irvine-based Allergan, the maker of Botox, is its largest creditor. The medspa owes Allergan $49,260, the filing said.
The Resolutions spa had income of $225,555 so far this year, its filing said.
