It seems we can never have too much of a good thing. The drive to stay fit and healthy plus the desire to look good, means the spa sector is looking healthy too. One in three people in the UK indulged in a treatment at a salon or spa in 2017, an increase of 30% from 2015 and this boom is expected to continue well into 2021 (1). For many people, beauty is no longer seen as a luxury but is a part of everyday life.
Nails and brows are big business. Whilst nail bars have been with us for some time, fast-track beauty bars are really just starting to catch on in the UK catering for people with busy work and social lives who need a quick make-over, manicure or blow-dry for a meeting or social engagement.
Spa resorts are also integrating this high street trend by offering express treatments in addition to the traditional immersive treatment room experience. One of the first to introduce this offering was Ragdale Hall where Fieldwork designed a ‘no pre-booking required’ express beauty salon that allows spontaneity in a busy social space. The area was deliberately positioned in a highly visible circulation zone to exploit the theatre of manicures, makeovers and brow treatments and to quietly promote the express beauty salon to the residential guests.
For Champneys Spa Resort in Tring, we created a beautifully indulgent area where hands and feet get the attention they deserve in a single zone. Divided by a low partition ‘retail’ wall, manicures take place in the highly visible section of the room and pedicures in the more discreet section, where guests can relax in sumptuous chairs.
(1) Mintel’s Spa, Salon and In-Store Treatments UK 2017 report