Celebrating the first official opening of its first unisex slimming and beauty centre in Southeast Asia.
Away with the stereotype that beauty care and treatments apply only to the ladies. With the official opening of the unisex Ms Paris and Dandy House in Singapore, we can toast to beauty and spa treatments for everyone.
Males, there’s no more need to envy the flawless, radiant skin and hot bodies of the females. Have your own personal beauty therapy too!
If I have to describe my experience in one word, it would definitely have to be: hospitable. Perhaps this is why the most unique feature of the beauty salon is said to be their service, which is rooted in the Japanese tradition of hospitality.
When I first entered the salon, I was greeted by the warm and friendly smiles of the receptionists, who welcomed me to their grand opening. The decor of the place is stylish and simple with a subtle Japanese undertone to the furnishings, which ties in neatly with their Japanese-style theme.
One of their fancy rooms!
The sea salt massage as promised made my skin smoother and softer than before. The therapists were extremely congenial and were happy to answer my queries. They were also very careful to explain the use of every treatment or lotion they were applying on me.
The Japanese therapist giving me a sea salt massage.
That’s right, for those coming with your partners, you can opt for the couple suite! There’s also a sauna included and bathrooms attached to each room. What I liked about the tour was that the staff gave me their personal take on the beauty treatments offered by the salon, and even described their personal experience.
Interesting fact: Everything in the beauty salon is imported from Japan. From the equipment to the products, the bed sheets, bath towels and toiletries – even the bathroom slippers.
Ms Paris and Dandy House is already well established in major Japanese cities as well as ShangHai and Hong Kong. I then had a short interview Mr Hiroatsu Hirayama, the general manager of the spa’s parent company Shape Up House Co, who flew in specially to grace the event!
Mr Hiroatsu Hirayama (left) and his translator, Mr Makoto Fukai (right)
Q: Seeing that Miss Paris and Dandy House is newly launched in Singapore, what are some of the short-term goals that you hope to achieve?
In the short term, 50. I’m looking at first achieving a customer base of 50 members.
Q: Originally, Dandy House and Miss Paris are separate businesses catering only to males and females respectively. What is the rationale for combining the two to launch a unisex slimming and beauty centre instead?
In Japan, the sex ratio of the customers is 50:50. That’s very even, so we can operate business with the separate sex environment. But looking at it as a whole market here, including every other spa and esthetic salon, the sex ratio is 90:10. So 90 women, and 10 men.
Its to our advantage to combine the two.
Q: What are some of the biggest motivations for choosing to expand into Singapore?
There are a lot of Singaporeans who like Japanese culture, so it’s kind of business friendly. We opened in Asia first in Hong Kong, and second in China. We were aiming to expand our market in China, but there are some recent political issues these days so it did not go as well as we hoped.
Hence we shifted into East-Asia, and Singapore was the main choice.
Q: Why specifically Singapore though?
Everyone agreed to come to Singapore. (laughs).
Q: There are many other spa and beauty salons, what do you think will set you apart from existing spa and beauty salons in Singapore?
Other salons and esthetic salons cater to customers looking for relaxation and healing. But Ms Paris and Dandy House is different. Our difference is that we focus on the result. We don’t specialise in relaxation, we’re looking for results.
For example, if we have a bunch of customers who want to lose weight, we will make it happen. And then, another guy has lots of pimples. He wants them to disappear, and we will make it happen. Also, we specialise in men esthetics instead of focusing only on women esthetics. That’s the difference. That’s our strength.
Q: You have professionally trained and accredited therapists from Japan working here. Are there any plans to train or engage Singaporean therapists, such as the setting up of a Beauty School that offers beauty courses?
Some of the staff are not here today but at this point of time, we have five local staff working here. We are planning to increase the numbers of local staff here. There are also plans to open a Ms Paris school here in Singapore, but that would be in the future, not right now. It will be easy to get a job in our salon for those that go to our school and graduate.
Q: As a successful foreign investor, are there any future plans for Miss Paris and Dandy House to venture into the Western countries?
We have no plans to venture into Western countries right now. We want to focus only on Asia at this moment, and the main reason for that is the large population and market that Asia has.
Q: What is the most rewarding experience you have gained from working in this international beauty and spa salon?
The most rewarding experience I had was expanding the market into Asia. If I stayed only in Japan, I’m Japanese and I would have only known how to develop in my country. It’s a familiar environment and it’s very easy to do so.
But once I get out of Japan, you meet different races of people. They way we think is different, the way we handle things is different, and I certainly struggled with running the business. But at the same time, I gained knowledge, and it’s the most rewarding experience I have had.
If you’re interested in having your virgin experience at this leading beauty spa brand, they do have a promotion going on for first-time customers, who can experience their signature treatments at $88 only! The 90-minute Signature Triple Burn Method was originally valued at $380, while the 60-minute Signature Face Slimming Massage was going for $270.
It is definitely a steal to go for a trial!
Where to locate them: #05-25 Ngee Ann City
Disclosure: Media Invitation
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