True Day Spa Offers Aromatheraphy, Reflexology
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By SCOTT CORNELL, Staff Writer 11/20/2004
SOUTHINGTON - When her graphic design firm grew to be too large, Bristol resident Debra Morra felt it was time she needed a career change, so she turned her attention to taking courses focused on aroma therapy and reflexology.
Morra’s hard work has recently paid off with the opening of her new day spa located at 1842 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike. Transforming an old office building into Lavender Fields Day Spa, Morra opened her new business on Monday, specializing in true day spa treatments.
"We are not just a hair or nail salon with an extra treatment room," Morra, 45, said. "There are not many true day spas around, and while we do manicures and pedicures, they are all natural and people will not smell chemicals when they walk in."
As a true day spa, Lavender Fields focuses on providing massage treatments and aroma therapy through the use of organic materials and plant extracts considered very healthy for the body, Morra said. For example, the spa utilizes a line of facial products from Paris known as Yonka, a pioneer company in the field of aroma therapy.
Following the spa’s tag line, "Get Your Glow On," its signature service is what Morra refers to as a body glow, a treatment that takes the dead skin off a client’s body, leaving the skin smooth and helping with circulation. Clients may choose between Dead Sea salt or organic sugar as a base followed by organic oils and a choice of nearly 15 different body scents, from chocolate cherry to lavender and jasmine, creating a customized blend for each individual.
The spa also conducts a treatment with organic mud known as Moor Mud, containing thousands of plant extracts and trace elements intended to draw toxins out of the skin and exfoliate the body. People tend to come out of the treatment feeling enlightened after their body was covered in the refreshing mud, Morra said.
Lavender Fields Day Spa was not an overnight project, taking a couple of years to open after Morra began attending the aroma therapy and reflexology classes in Newington. After leaving Morra Design, the graphic design firm she and her husband began in 1991, Morra went to work for a day spa in Avon and began an integrated medicine program at Hartford Hospital, where patients chose between massage therapy and Reiki treatments.
Morra attended small business development classes through the state and conducted a feasibility and demographic study by visiting every day spa within a 20-mile radius of her location and receiving treatment from each one. By doing this, Morra was able to get a handle on how to set her prices and where she eventually wanted to locate.
"It took a long time to find the space because I did not want to go into a strip mall or a regular office building," Morra said. "This building has a working fireplace and a green room where clients can sit and have tea in between treatments, and there are not too many professional buildings around with a fireplace, a full bathroom and a green room."
Because she did not have the need for a great deal of equipment other than massage tables, aesthetic facial steamers and pedicure chairs, Morra said she spared no expense on updated equipment and high scale products with mid-range prices. Although she heads a crew of eight people, only the aestheticians conducting facials with the Yonka products were required to undergo specialized training in Southbury.
Massages begin at $40 and facials start at $30, prices Morra considered reasonable because she wants her clients to be able to afford the treatments and come back for them more often than once or twice a year, she said.At 45 years of age, Morra said she has found her mid-life career and hopes to see this business take off.
Individual treatments and spa parties are both offered by Lavender Fields Day Spa, open weekdays till 6 p.m., on Saturdays till 4 p.m. and open late on Thursdays and Fridays. Sundays are reserved specifically for spa parties.
Now a member of the Greater Southington Chamber of Commerce, the spa, in coordination with the Chamber, will hold a grand opening from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dec. 4, featuring specials and giveaways regarding spa treatments.
For more information on hours and pricing, visit the spa’s Web site at www.lavenderfieldsdayspa.com.
Scott Cornell can be reached at scornell@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 225.