MEMBER PROFILE
CELADON DAY SPA
Finding a Niche in a Political
Metropolis BY ANDREW DEWSON
Sixteen years ago, the thought of an urban spa in downtown Washington D. C., never mind a successful one, might have been considered little more than a flight of fancy. After all, as Celadon Day Spa owner Judith Koritsas recalled, the part of downtown where the day spa was eventually relocated wasn’ t exactly as developed back then as it is today.
“ It wasn’ t a particularly attractive part of the city then, and there was no real competition close by,” Koritsas says, referring to the downtown business district of D. C. where Celadon Day Spa was later relocated. Despite this, Koritsas eventually opted to move across town and leave the residential and high-end retail neighborhood of Georgetown, for a developing downtown business district. It proved to be the right business move.“ I wanted to cater to professional men and women and fit into their busy work schedules, and it was a risk that luckily paid off. Now, 16 years later, there is huge growth in downtown D. C. and we are surrounded by high-end restaurants and stores.”
Aside from treatment rooms, Celadon Day Spa also has a seven-chair salon.
Early Challenges Koritsas admits that, at the time, she had no idea if the move would work, but says that, counterintuitively, it also made perfect sense:“ I started off in a more typical spa suburban location but found that most of our customers worked
16 PULSE ■ June 2016