Stacey Maness and Luane McWhorter are clearly so much more than just business partners. You can hear it in how they talk to each other, laugh together, occasionally finish each other’s sentences, and in how they reminisce about their friendship so effortlessly — even about stuff that happened 20 years ago.
“That’s when we met,” Maness said with a laugh. “We were both pregnant with our youngest children, and we each owed two Primrose schools with our husbands. It was an interesting time in our lives. We became very good friends.”
And inseparable business partners to boot.
While owning and being hands-on with the day-to-day operations of early education facilities was undoubtedly rewarding and made sense since they were raising families of their own, the longtime Flower Mound residents had their sights set on a larger vision.
They’ve since turned that dream into a reality while becoming the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s preeminent dynamic duo in the beauty and spa industry. Both have co-owned the wildly popular Sutera Spa for the past 17 years. McWhorter also owns Grand Spa in Dallas.
They further entrenched themselves as your go-to source for all kinds of spa and beauty treatments for your body and soul in October with SpaVela, a crown jewel of the new 150-acre Lakeside development in Flower Mound.
“I had been in the beauty business, and Stacey knew interior design. But we wanted to do something together, and it’s all worked out so perfectly since then. Really, it worked from Day 1,” McWhorter said. “We’re having a lot of fun right now.”
Maness agreed but quickly upped the ante on her dear friend’s comment.
“We love what we do,” she said. “And we’ve figured out over the years what people really love.”
SpaVela is the embodiment of what people really love — and it’s right here in the heart of Flower Mound. The 5,000-square-foot space offers high-end luxury med spa and beauty services under one roof. If you want a therapeutic or hot stone massage and then follow it up with a skin-quenching hydrating facial, SpaVela can help. If you are in the market for a trusted and professional clinic that can do everything from Botox and Restylane Silk injections to B12 shots, this is your place. They also offer waxing services for men and women, skin pen, microdermaplaning with a peel, and more.
SpaVela has 11 treatment rooms, three designated rooms for couples massages and facials, and saunas and steam rooms in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms. They offer complimentary valet parking, and starting in the spring, the use of the pool area in the Lakeside tower will be included in select spa services. Stay tuned for further details on that.
A trip to SpaVela is like giving your mind, body, and soul a vacation. And the best part is that their certified staff can meet the health and beauty needs you have regardless of your age, gender, or desires.
“We opened right in the middle of COVID-19, so it was a difficult time to hire staff. But we are also well-known in the area, so we overcame that quickly,” McWhorter said. “We have an amazing staff and a medical director, which means we can sell medical-grade skin care services. We will expand those services as we see what people are looking for and wanting. We want to make sure we are fulfilling all the needs in the community, and it’s very exciting to be part of this area.”
Like most business ventures, the idea to go into business together all those many years ago started small and quickly took on a life of its own. As the story goes, Maness and McWhorter were sitting in the backyard talking when the idea for Sutera first came up. That concept for that spa was more traditional with a cozy and laid-back atmosphere that offered services ranging from relaxing massages, body scrubs, and wraps to facials, manicures, and pedicures. It was perfect for anyone who wanted some pampering, and the duo immediately began marketing to the hundreds of parents at their respective Primrose locations.
It didn’t take long before everyone was knocking at their door. But as Maness recalls, something was missing.
“It had quickly become the premier neighborhood spa, but what we discovered was that the same people who loved coming to Sutera also wanted a luxury experience and were going all the way to Dallas to get it,” she said. “We thought to ourselves, ‘Why can’t we have that here?’ When the tower approached us a few years ago about having something at Lakeside, we knew it was the perfect situation — to have something for people closer to home.”
Maness added, “We recognized a gap in the area, and we’ve filled it.”
Adding a new clinic wasn’t complicated at all because of the industry knowledge they’d built up over the years. The same medical director that oversees Grand Spa in Dallas also oversees SpaVela. Their staff is certified and has years of experience in ensuring clients receive the best experience possible.
“We know how important customer service is,” McWhorter said. “We want to wow people. That’s been our motivation with all of our spas, and we plan to make [SpaVela] just as special.”
Just like their longtime friendship.
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