Sisters laud two decades in spa business

[attach]3289[/attach]What began as three small rooms is now three locations and a female family empire.

Colombian-born sisters Mabel Jakimtschuk and Janet DiBiase have been operating their spa business for over 20 years. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of their Etobicoke location, they’ve celebrated by renaming their chain of spas Village Wellness Spas.

Jakimtschuk opened her first spa in Mississauga in 1988. A year later she was joined by her sister and the two opened the Humbertown Shopping Centre location in Etobicoke. Just over six months ago, they opened a Vaughan location.

The new name aligns all three spas and makes sense, they say, as both the Etobicoke and Mississauga locations were known as the Sherwood Forest Village Spa and Humbertown Village Spa, respectively.

The business has survived and thrived, the sisters say, because of their family-oriented approach.

Employing over 40 people, pretty much all women, they say they have to be sensitive to familial issues. It’s a flexibility they say is lacking in the industry.

“The biggest challenge is to deal with families,” says Jakimtschuk, who oversees the operations of all three spas. “We know (employees) have to have balance in their lives.”

The sisters have seen employees through the cycle countless times: a woman starts full-time, has a baby and shifts to part-time, and then shifts back into full-time when the child gets older. Then the process begins again with a second pregnancy.

It’s a flexibility the sisters respect because they can appreciate the challenges of running a business and having children. Jakimtschuk had her first child two years after starting the spa, and DiBiase says she joined the business a year later as she had young ones.

True to the family ethic, it’s not surprising that both of the sisters’ daughters work in the spa. Jakimtschuk’s eldest daughter Natalia runs the Humbertown location and manages all the marketing initiatives, while her younger sister works reception.

Meanwhile DiBiase’s two daughters, both in their early 20s and in school, help out at reception on a part-time basis.

“I never forced the children,” says Jakimtschuk about their working at the spa. “They have to love it.”

Working together as sisters sometimes has its challenges, they say, but they get through the rough spots as they respect the decisions they make.

“I’ve always been very careful not to cross the line,” says Jakimtschuk. “Even as sisters.”

Outside of the spa the sisters see each other every weekend.

“We’re always talking about the spa,” Jakimtschuk says. “We love it.”