New Day Spa Offers Physical, Spiritual Stress Relief

A spacious new day spa in Fort Lee is offering its clients more than the various types of massage, body scrubs, skin care and body treatments, waxing, aromatherapy and other specialties commonly associated with upscale, New York City spas. It’s offering stress relief in the eastern tradition and a chance to get away—if only for a couple of hours—from the clamor of everyday life, say husband and wife owners Song Ho and Jina Seo of .

The motto of Spa Dew, which held its grand opening last week, is “Escape on a Journey of Wellbeing,” and just stepping foot in the new facility on Lemoine Ave. with its soothing music and calming fragrances gives one a sense of wellbeing from the outset.

“I have been getting massages ever since I was very young,” said Spa Dew manager Jina Seo, who was born and raised in Korea. “And I know it is mental relaxation, and it helps you physically as well as spiritually. It relaxes you, and with the bustle of everyday life, you need to get away from reality from time-to-time.”

Once considered an unaffordable luxury to many and found only in places like five-star hotels, the day spa business started to boom a few years back in New York City, according to Seo. But those places tended to be small because of the high cost of rent in the big city, and the Seos saw Fort Lee as the perfect place to open up a more spacious, luxurious spa catering to women, men and even couples.

Spa Dew features separate sections for its female and male clients, in addition to a private couples’ room, and offers several different types of massage and body treatments in an atmosphere that exudes tranquility. Seo believes it’s a unique establishment for Fort Lee for a number of reasons—not the least of which is the signature line of skin care products the spa uses for its various treatments: Aromatherapy Associates, which Seo says is popular in Europe and Asia right now but only beginning to catch on in the U.S.

“The U.S. is actually catching up with the European countries and Asian countries with all these new skin care products, but they’re very well-known in Europe and Asia,” she said, adding that the only places she knows of in NYC using the line are the Four Seasons Hotel and the Mandarin Oriental—both five star hotels.

“And they charge a lot more than we do,” Seo said. “It’s all natural, essential oils, organic … they’re just very luxurious, beneficial-to-skin products.”

Massages at Spa Dew start at $80. Body treatments are about $80 per scrub as well. But the Seos are offering a 20 percent grand opening discount through Oct. 15. They’re also going to be offering package deals and incentives for frequent visitors.

Seo said she recruited a small team of “the most competent and qualified” in-house massage therapists and an esthetician, all of whom are fully licensed, and she said she welcomes people who are interested in seeing the new facility to call up and make an appointment to take a tour.

Noting that it’s a potentially stressful time to be opening a new business, given the current economic climate, Seo also pointed out the irony that she and her husband are opening a business that deals in large part with relieving stress— based on the eastern notion of chi, which can be roughly translated as “energy flow”—by relaxing the muscles and promoting circulation.

“I don’t think there’s any right time to do anything,” she said. “Opportunity comes, and you grab it. Opportunity came, and we took it. It’s very shaky out there; the economy out there is lousy. We all realize that. But with that said, we strive to reverse stress. We need to treat our body and mind, to get away and treat ourselves to have a mentally healthier life. Getting a massage every two weeks or so relaxes your muscles, and it promotes circulation and also promotes, not only mental, but physical health as well.”

Spa Dew is located at 2025 Lemoine Ave. on the fourth floor. For more information or to make an appointment, call 201-461-0949 or visit Spa Dew online.