thePULSESteam and massage winter away at a local spa
March 13 and snowing again. Temperature: 18 degrees in downtown Worcester. Body tired of fighting winter. Spring just isn’t going to come to New England this year. We’re going to go straight from winter to summer. Got a bad case of the March in Worcester blues….
The stores are full of strapless, backless, gauzy, hot pink and orange spring clothes. But who can even think about going shopping — much less putting on such clothes in this kind of weather?
The only way to get through this season is to pamper yourself big time. Forget about the war, filing your taxes and the fact that you can’t afford to go to Cancun, much less Florida.
Right here in Worcester, you can escape with a trip to Paul Conzo’s day spa. Honest. You’ll find a little bit of paradise right here on Shrewsbury Street.
Pat Conzo and her husband are running a spa so popular, that reservations are booked solid for the spa’s packages on Saturdays — right through the end of May.
After slogging through the latest snowstorm, walking into the spa is like escaping to another world. You walk down a circular staircase from the bustling salon where every chair is filled with people beautifying. In low-lit, rose-colored rooms, women and men of all ages, shapes and sizes lie stretched out on tables covered with warm towels or waterproof cushions and give up the winter battle.
“When you’re down in the spa, you’re in a different world,” says Pat Conzo after expressing surprise when she hears that it is snowing outside again.
Conzo and her husband Paul started the spa when they realized that people often had to go away on a trip to experience the joys of a spa. “We opened our salon in 1987,” Pat says. “We used to go to spas and we wished that there was one closer. We started to give facials and massages upstairs…and then when this basement space became available, we broke through the floor and built the spa.”
Pat says that over 40 people are employed by Paul Conzo now, including a staff of massage therapists, estheticians and nail and make-up technicians who are busy six days a week — including several days when the spa is open until 9 p.m.
Veronica, a 20-something massage therapist who has been at Paul Conzo for several years, says that pleasing people is the secret of being a good massage therapist. After getting a degree in psychology and then working for a while with autistic children, she turned to massage therapy to make a living.
“I just like to make people happy,” Veronica says as she rubs strong, soft hands around your back in concentric circles. “I believe that what goes around, comes around and if you can do something good for someone, it will make your own life better.”
Pat Conzo says she always tries to hire therapists who have an attitude like Veronica’s. “The best ones always feel like that,” she says in a softly lit room where customers are invited to stretch out in comfortable chairs and sip lemon-scented water. “We get so much gratification from just making people feel good.”
And after spending a few hours in Veronica’s capable hands, it’s not hard to see why the spa is busy round the clock.
Conzo’s offers a wide array of spa packages that range from $127 for a 2 and 1/2 hour “Spa Escape” to the deluxe “All Day Affair” which lasts 6 1/2 hours and as the spa’s brochure says, “is the perfect gift for yourself or someone very special in your life”.
For $346, you get a steam shower, a deep pore facial, body polish, refreshments, one-hour body massage, manicure, pedicure, lunch, shampoo, blow-dry and make-up application.
It’s the works — and one lucky woman from Webster says it is “unbelievable”. Sitting before a wall of Hollywood style make-up mirrors at the end of her 6 hours of pleasure, Katrina glows from head to toe. Her skin looks luminescent. Her freshly styled hair glistens in curls.
“My husband gave me this package for my 30th birthday,” she says. “He is taking care of our two kids all day – a two year old and a 9 month old. When I’m done, we’re supposed to go out to dinner….but I feel so relaxed that I just called him and said I would just like to go bed…”
If you would rather not spring for the works, the “Time of Renewal” package for $144 is a perfect way to get your body — and your spirit — in shape. This package starts off with a steam shower that opens up every pore. Then wrapped in a cotton robe, you are guided by Veronica to a room with a waterproof cushioned bed lined with warm towels. Soon Veronica begins to massage handfuls of Dead Sea salt all over your body from head to toe, leaving you tingling. She explains that she is removing all the winter-dead skin from your body, revitalizing your skin and stimulating circulation.
And then she massages you gently with warm, fragrant coconut oil. Close your eyes and you could be on a beach somewhere tropical….
The next step in your renewal is a one-hour, full body massage with paraffin. Warm wax is applied, and then you are massaged and gently stretched into a state of relaxation so complete that even people with very ticklish feet sigh in pleasure as Veronica rubs every single last toe.
It is obvious that Veronica and all the spa staff love what they are doing. “I have some people who get so relaxed here that they fall completely asleep,” Veronica says. “One guy I had snored away. Sometimes people are so asleep, I have to wake them up. They just get so relaxed…”
Pat Conzo says the spa is especially popular with young people. “They are much more knowledgeable about spas than older people,” she says, noting that several packages are especially popular with her 30 and under customers. “They love facials and pedicures, manicures and the new “Slender Wrap” treatment,” she continues. With a “Slender Wrap” ($85) treatment, the skin is actually tightened up, taking several inches off each waistline. “The girls get so excited about this, that they’re just jumping around!” Pat says with a laugh.
To make the weight loss happen, the body is wrapped with cotton clothes soaked in a special solution. “It flushes toxins from your body,” Pat says, explaining that although the weight loss is not permanent, the “Wrap” is a great way to start off a diet – or the perfect thing to do if you’re going on a trip.
Pat says that during the week, it is possible to make an appointment at the spa — which has been voted “Best Day Spa” in Worcester Magazine’s “Best of Worcester” reader’s poll for six years. As noted above, Saturdays until May are booked up, but the spa is open several nights until 9 p.m.
“I’m totally hooked on this,” said a businessman in a suit waiting for a massage around 5 p.m.
And ascending up through the spa to snowy Shrewsbury Street, it’s easy to see why young mothers, 50 year old businesspeople and 20-somethings, keep finding their way to Paul Conzo’s Day Spa – no matter what the weather outside.
Paul Conzo Day Spa is located at 490 Shrewsbury Street in the Picadilly Plaza on Worcester’s Shrewsbury Street. (508) 754-5418 or www.paulconzo.com.
