Malama spa trying to rebuild client base
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
The new owners of the bankrupt Malama Salon & Spa near Manoa Market Place re-opened a month ago and are working to regain their old clients, who were left wondering about the shop's future.
The biggest confusion has been over some $200,000 in gift certificates sold over the holidays under the belief that they were valid at either the Manoa or Ala Moana sites. Now that the two luxury spas are separately owned, the gift certificates are good only at the Aveda Lifestyle Salon and Spa in Ala Moana Shopping Center, said Eileen Dervisevic, co-owner of the Malama Salon & Spa.
Dervisevic wants to get her share of the $44,000 worth of gift certificates issued at the Manoa shop between Dec. 1 and Jan. 10. And she intends to convince the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy.
For now, all of the gift card accounts are ending up with the Minneapolis-based Aveda Corp. store at Ala Moana, which sold $171,000 worth of gift certificates, Dervisevic said.
Managers of the Aveda store did not comment yesterday. A company spokeswoman declined immediate comment.
Dervisevic said relations between the two shops are friendly. Her staff undergoes Aveda training at the Ala Moana site and the Manoa shop refers customers there.
"The fact that we give out their phone number says something," Dervisevic said. "We just want to rebuild customer trust."
In November, the original owners of Malama Salon & Spa Ltd. closed their Manoa and Ala Moana shops, laid off nearly 100 employees and canceled plans for two new locations — in downtown Kailua and at the Halekulani hotel in Waikiki.
Dervisevic, president of McQuaid's Fine Living luxury bed and bath store at Ward Warehouse, went into partnership with Shawn Ulibarri, who had been in charge of facials and skin at the Manoa shop.
They rehired eight of the original 30 employees, along with 12 others. On Feb. 12, they re-opened the two-story, 2,400- square-foot spa and began calling the old client list.
Business is up to 65 to 70 percent of the previous sales figures. Dervisevic believes the shop's loyal Manoa clients will return.
"We're still exactly the same as we were before," she said. "Same pricing. Same everything."
