Memories are Skin Deep

Closing the doors of her day spa, Skin Deep, is going to be a sad day for owner Deborah Woods, but she is thankful for the time she had.

After 18 years of serving the community, the spa, which has been struggling since 2008, is going to succumb to the effects of the economic downturn next month.

“I had a dream,” Woods said. “I made my dream come true, and I couldn’t have done it without the community and the city of Huntington Beach.”

Woods opened her first company in 1987 when there were no other day spas in the area. Women were just starting to enter the workforce in earnest, and she wanted to help them take care of themselves and create a balance in their lives, Woods said.

Woods opened Skin Deep in 1991 and wanted to specialize in skin. Woods offered her customers a plethora of offerings, from massages to facials to microdermabrasion, as well as a slew of services for the “discriminating gentleman.”

Skin Deep began feeling the effects of the economy in 2008, and Woods said she wants to close the spa in November rather than wait until after the holidays.

Decron Properties, her property management company, also started giving Woods rent reduction but moved her to a monthly lease, Woods said. The move made Woods uneasy about how long Skin Deep would stay open. Woods said she was worried another company would want the space and Decron wouldn’t renew the spa’s lease.

“Either I let them pull the plug on the business . . . or I make the decision and pull the plug properly,” she said.

Although the decision to close was difficult, Woods said she wanted to do it with integrity. The clients and staff are what Woods said she is sad to leave. People who used to come with their moms to the spa as babies are now clients, she said.

“Deborah is an amazing businesswoman. She cares tremendously about her community and her clients,” said Julieanna Sanchez, an employee at Skin Deep for 16 years.

The Zen Water Experience, a five-stage remineralization and water relaxation treatment, will close Sunday, and the spa will close Nov. 7.

“I would love people to come by and say hello and say goodbye,” she said.