Flowers, chocolates, breakfast in bed are the classic Mother’s Day gifts. But how about a nice spa treatment and a bit of pampering?
That’s what’s on offer at Repose Day Spa for Mother’s Day this year. Ashley Sumner, the owner, is offering a special combination of seaweed facial, hand or foot massage and a paraffin dip for the special day.
“What’s nice about this, most people don’t tend to book themselves these services. If it’s not a necessity, they don’t book it,” she told me. “When you give somebody a gift certificate, it’s an excuse to treat themselves. They don’t feel that same guilt.”
I paid a visit to Repose’s downtown location on First Street above Style Trend on Saturday morning during the spring street festival.
Sumner grew up in Revelstoke but left after school, only to return to the community in 2008 to start Repose Day Spa. In between, she lived in Vancouver, trained as a massage therapist in Vernon, worked at a spa in Radium and took courses in spa treatments in Calgary.
“I wanted to do some hands on healthcare that was a little bit more natural,” she said, when I asked her how she got into massage therapy. “It wasn’t related to medication, it wasn’t related to emergencies, blood and guts kind of thing. I wanted to be able to make a difference one-on-one.”
It was while working in the resort town of Radium that she took courses in other spa treatments. She now offers facials, manicures, pedicures, and hair removal. While she does most of the work herself, she also has a team of practitioners she can call on.
“I think it’s really good because as a massage therapist, our average lifespan is 10 years. It’s just so hard on your body. Not only do I enjoy doing the other services, but it also gives my body a break as a well,” she said. “It’s nice because somebody comes in because they want a massage, but they want a little pampering as well. We can start with a massage, then do a pedicure. You can come for a full day if you want to.”
Photo: The massage therapy room at Repose is designed to be more relaxing.
Her most popular treatments, other than massage, are pedicures and hair removal.
“Hair removal isn’t as relaxing but for a lot of us it’s a necessary thing. Come spring and summer pedicures are big,” said Sumner.
Repose has had numerous locations over the years, operating at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, and the Hillcrest Hotel at various points in time. Now, Sumner has closed her Hillcrest location and is focusing on the her downtown space, allowing her to spend more time on treatments and less on administration. She also works out of the Bighorn Lodge and Glacier House Resort.
The space has two rooms — one for massage and the other for other spa treatments. She is renovating one room so she can also offer eyebrow microblading.
For Mother’s Day, Sumner is offering a one hour spa treatment including a seaweed facial, hand or foot massage and paraffin wax dip. The facial is great for the skin, she says, while the wax dip is great for the feet heading into sandal season.
While we talked about moms, Sumner said about half her clients are men — and not just for massages, they come in for pedicures too.
“It would be nice to not be grabbing your sheets at night wth big calluses on your heels,” she said. “And your partner will appreciate it to.”
