Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

Some personal-care businesses are seeing an appreciable fall-off in business as more Jamaicans cut back on what they regard as non-essential spending. Operators of spas that offer personal-care services say they have been experiencing up to a 20 per cent drop in sales and a marked decline in profitability since the onset last year of the troubles with unregulated financial schemes, a situation worsened by the sliding dollar.

The trend is likely to continue as Jamaicans tighten personal spending in a deteriorating local and global economy.

Eight months ago, Carol (surname withheld on request), a public-sector worker in Kingston, would spend between $6,000 and $7,000 every six weeks to do a facial, she said. Now, the government-paid senior director says she has eliminated spa care and other similar spending from her budget.

More luxury

"It is more luxury. I wouldn't call them necessities at all and just rethinking how you spend your money and the general cost of living, those are the first things in your assessment you eliminate from your budget," she told Sunday Business.

However, Carol is not the only consumer who has dropped spa therapy from her spending plans.

"I used to do facials and massages. I have kept up with massages but less of them," Mary, another former spa regular said. "I just can't manage any more. I think they (spa operators) have done their best to keep prices down, but I have resorted to buying the products and doing it (facials) myself."

Rejuvenation Day Spa, located on Hope Road in St Andrew, is among the businesses reporting a customer fall-off.

"We still have our clients who normally come, but their frequency has definitely fallen," said manager, Kaye Cousins.

Cousins explains that business has been "up and down" as, she said, customers who visited weekly now go in for the therapeutic indulgence every two weeks, while monthly customers now turn up every two months.

"I have staff leaving and I have not replaced them because there is not enough work," she said of the impact on the business.

Insolvency issues

"From the whole Cash Plus, Olint (situations), it started out from then," added Cousins, referring to the clamp-down in unregulated financial organisations and their subsequent insolvency issues.

While Rejuvenation Spa has been strategising by offering gift certificates and packages to improve business from its largely middle-income clients, other players in the industry say the recent devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, now trading at almost $90 to US$1, is a major problem for spa operators.

At the same time, Jennifer Samuda, operator of the 20-year-old Jencare Skin Farm, said though she would not say there had not been a cut-back, her company was "weathering the storm".

Samuda said: "It (business) may not be as good as before, but I have to be thankful. Despite the conditions that exist, we are still having our head above the water."

In contrast to the dwindling patronage being reported by some spa owners, Strawberry Hill Hotel and Spa, which caters to a high-income clientele, is still doing brisk business, according to general manager, Paula Surtees.

"Because of a mixture of overseas and locals, we haven't really seen a drop in business."

Surtees explains that any reduction in visits by walk-in clients is being offset by patronage from guests staying at the property. "So, what we might lose from sales from Kingston, we gain back from our in-house guests."

10 to 20 per cent discount

Surtees said Strawberry Hill had been offering a special in a bid to keep its local customers.

"We started in February and it ends at the end of April and it is like a 10 to 20 per cent discount. That's mainly because we know how things are affecting the local market and we want it to be more affordable for people who might think twice," she said.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com