UPSCALE BUSINESSES TAKE CARE OF THE HIGH END MARKET IN THE REGION

At least two relatively new businesses in Cape Girardeau and another being planned cater to customers willing to pay a bit extra for something special.

Elan Day Spa and Esthetic Center owned by Drs. J. Thomas Critchlow and Jan Seabaugh invites clients to "escape the ordinary." The Hershey's kisses in a bowl on a table in the waiting room and the sculpture on the counters only hint at the pampering available at the spa located at 3065 William St.

Spa packages range from $103 for the "Just for Him" treatment to $306 for the "Escape to Elan," which includes an underwater massage, Spa Glow (exfoliation with sea salts and essential oils), Aromatherapy Wrap, European facial, paraffin manicure and pedicure and lunch catered by Ruby Tuesday.

"Some people will come for the whole day," Critchlow says.

Any of these are available a la carte, in addition to a complete array of cosmetology services.

Critchlow is a general surgeon and vein specialist. He opened the spa to provide vein treatments in a non-medical setting. The remainder of the spa's offerings complemented the esthetic treatments.

A $160,000 machine called a FotoFacial provides Intense Pulsed Light treatments that remove spider veins, age spots, enlarged pores and rosacea, a condition that appears as redness on the cheeks.

One advantage FotoFacial has over other kinds of treatments is the lack of recuperative down time, Critchlow says.

Botulism toxin injections are used to get rid of wrinkles, a treatment that wears off after five or six months.

Two rooms are devoted to massage, two to facials. In the endermology room is a massage machine the FDA claims is the only treatment that reduces cellulite.

"As a physician, it is important to me not to promote things that are not scientifically proven," Critchlow says.

There are separate lounges for women and men in which they can relax in a robe or take a sauna before, after or between treatments.

The spa has 6,000 square feet of space.

The partners had marketing studies done and used a consultant from the Green Door Spa in St. Louis, but they didn't know for sure whether Southeast Missourians and Southern Illinoisans were ready to indulge themselves in the pleasures of a spa.

"It's a bit of a gamble, frankly," said Critchlow, who opened the spa in September 1998.

He knows there are plenty of potential clients. "One of the hurdles is to educate people on what is available," he said.

The 10-15 percent of the spa's clients who are male is below the national average. "We haven't marketed to men yet," he said. "They are not used to coming in and having this kind of stuff done."

He had anticipated most of the spa's customers would have incomes of $50,000 or more, but that hasn't been the case. "We also have school teachers and clerks," he said.

For services also available at salons, the spa's prices are competitive $20 and up for a men's haircut, $25 and up for a women's haircut. A mud bath is $50, a Pumpkin Peel $55.

"Ours is an upscale but very friendly place people can go to look better and feel better an not have to drive to St. Louis," Critchlow said.

For those wanting something special for the dinner table, there's Europa's Gourmet Market at 20 N. Spanish St.

It was established last year to draw more people downtown during the day, says John Wyman, co-owner with his wife Jerrianne. The Wymans, who live downtown, are interested in helping to build residential growth downtown. And every neighborhood needs a grocery store.

"It mainly serves our purpose of living down here," said Wyman. "This is what we would want, a place where the east side of town can come and get coffees and fresh baked goods in the morning and get the same type of items in the afternoon."

Lunchtime sandwiches made with fresh-grilled meats also are part of the market's fare.

The market offers items the Wymans use in their restaurants Mollie's and the Royal N'Orleans. There are gourmet spices, stylish coffeemakers and boxes of Thai coconut and ginger rice. Jazz plays on the stereo.

The lovely smells and sights in Europa's help create their own market for this kind of experience, Wyman says. "It's visual as well as gratifying. People like to come in and browse."

Selling all the variations of espresso, 16 kinds of coffee and 62 different types of cheese, Europa's has a cultured feel.

But lots of people shop at Europa's who wouldn't be described as upscale, Wyman says. The college student treating himself to imported tea and people with modest incomes who want to celebrate something with a bottle of wine and some cheese are customers as well.

But the market also has Gourmet to Go ready-made gourmet meals that hurried professionals buy on their way home from work.

If you have a dinner party for six Friday evening, Europa's can take care of it.

Aging Baby Boomers are one part of the market's clientele. "Food is more important to them, what's healthy and what's not," Wyman says.

Many of Europa's items are not to be found at local grocery stores. "We have 40 different distributors," Wyman says, smiling. "It's a nightmare."

The market is evolving but Wyman hopes it eventually will become the downtown's neighborhood grocery store. Fresh produce and milk already are available.

Opening Europa's was all about helping to shape the future of downtown and Cape Girardeau, Wyman says.

"The money is definitely here and the level of sophistication is growing... You can't categorize Cape Girardeau as being any specific demographic. People are interested in what's going on."

Past spas and gourmet food, a combination of golf and gated living is another commodity being planned for Cape Girardeau. The Presswick Group has enlisted Nicklaus Design, a golf architecture company founded by Jack Nicklaus, to build a golf course that will be the centerpiece of a secure, gated environment to include condominiums, villas, a riding stable, tennis courts, a swimming pool and other facilities.

Cord Dombrowski, a partner in the group, objects to terms like upscale to describe the project. "We are attempting to create an environment that ... allows people to come together in a very simple way," he says. "... A lot of people associate upscale with expensive and elitism. That's not what we're trying to do here."

He said the project will offer lots and residences of various sizes, all of which will be maintenance-free.

The project is intended to serve the entire region just as the hospitals and the university do, Dombrowski said, but is not dependent on the St. Louis market. "We know significant activity from St. Louis comes down to play golf anyhow. Whether they would be interested in making a semi-permanent or permanent commitment, we have not depended on that."

Success will mean getting a 7-8 percent share of the residential market during the 10-12-year build-out of the project, Dombrowski said.

The construction, the design, maintenance and ambiance will be first rate, he said.

"We are not going to short-change prospective members of the facility. This is going to be very nice, something this area hasn't seen before, Dombrowski said. "Everything up to the this point has been done on a less sophisticated basis. ... It's something those of us who live here will be very proud of."