Center of Attention Day Spa offers wide variety of services
After a couple moved to the area 14 years ago, they decided to open the Center of Attention Day Spa, which has expanded to offer more services to the residents of Pine Island.
Owner Tonya Elder said she moved to Pine Island with her husband Bob from Indiana just to have a change of pace in life. She first stepped into the beauty industry 16 years ago in Indiana and has come to enjoy it more as the years pass.
“It is a happy environment,” Elder said. “Everyone walks out happy.”
The Elders opened a small shop in St. James City where she offered manicures, pedicures and acrylic nails. Elder did nails all by herself for three years until she moved to another location due to her increase in clientele.
Elder decided to further her education by acquiring her aesthetics license, which gave her the opportunity to expand the business into a full day spa. Once Center of Attention Day Spa moved to the Island Exchange building in the center of the island on Oct. 31, 2000, the business began offering massages, facials, along with body services.
“Center of Attention Day Spa strives to be a positive environment as well as a place for any individual to receive the most advanced and professional service,” Elder said.
The spa offers many services, including natural nails, acrylics, gel polish, along with a few different kinds of massages, facials and body scrubs.
The gel polish, which was a product they brought back from an annual beauty show a year and a half ago, has been a huge hit.
“Gel polish is a hybrid between a soak-off gel product and a nail polish,” Elder said. “The client can wear this thin gel polish color for 10 days up to three weeks. The product is soaked off with ease without damage to the natural nail.”
The spa has approximately 115 colors to choose from.
The spa also offers a few different massages for residents to take advantage of, including ashiatsu, cupping, relaxation, deep tissue, hot stone, trigger point and myofascial release. Chair massages, full body scrubs, seaweed and moor mud body wraps are also available.
Elder said ashiatsu is broken down into two meanings – ashi, which means foot, and atsu, which means pressure. In other words, it means barefoot massage.
“Our massage therapist will provide an incredibly deep massage, all while still being gentle,” she said. “This massage has become the most popular with athletes as they are muscle-bound and need a deeper massage.”
The technique is utilized by having stable bars secured from the ceiling that provide the therapist with the correct leverage needed to make long, strong strokes that cannot be achieved with the hands alone.
Another massage offered is the cupping technique, which is used for many purposes. Those who receive a cupping massage will benefit due to softening tight muscles, tone attachments, loosen adhesions and lift connective tissue, bring hydration and blood flow to the body’s tissue and drain excess fluids and toxins by opening lymphatic pathways.
“This technique benefits those with stagnate tissue or knots that basic massage does not address,” Elder said. “This type of massage also benefits those with conditions such as fibromyalgia and sciatica.”
An additional service the spa offers is skincare.
“We carry two different skincare lines that enables us to address all skin types,” Elder said.
This month the spa introduced microdermabrasion for skin resurfacing, ultrasound for deeper product penetration and seven LED lights. Red is used for energizing the skin and blue is used for acne and bacterial issues.
“These services, combined with the existing skin services, will fit the needs of someone wanting a relaxing spa facial all the way to a series of facials to concentrate on specific issues,” she said.
Elder is also a national educator for the skin care product Serene Professional Skincare.
“Serene is an anti-aging, result-driven line that’s active ingredients have been proven effective to stimulate the skin’s own repair and renewal process through glycolic acids and antioxidants for over 20 years within the medical and aesthetics field,” she said.
The spa also has tote bags, beaded clutches, journals, candles, room sprays, room diffusers, jewelry, bath and body products for sale.
Elder said she believes her spa is different from others because of the continued education she seeks, along with striving to keep up with new products and services.
“Every year the spa closes down for a short period so that we are able to attend the Premier Beauty Show in Orlando,” she said.
The licensed professionals that work with her also attend the show every year. Those individuals include Vonnie Bixby, who specializes in massage therapy; Kalyn Horney, who specializes in skin care and nails; Cindy Axler, who specializes in natural nails and Jackie Rummel, who specializes in skin care and nails.
The group of women attend classes, along with having the opportunity to view all the new products and techniques that come forth within that year.
Appointments are suggested for services at Center of Attention Day Spa, but walk-ins are welcome. The hours at the spa are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Appointments are available for services after 5 p.m.