The newest tenant at Mayfaire Town Center opened Monday.
Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, a franchise with locations elsewhere in North Carolina and throughout the U.S., offers massage arts, skin care and hair removal. The Mayfaire location, Suite 115 at 840 Town Center Drive near the Regal Mayfaire Stadium 16 movie theater, is inside one of the town center's newest spaces, next to Palmetto Moon and across from H&M.
Even before opening this week, the new-to-Wilmington business was getting phone calls about booking appointments, said Andy Johnson, the Wilmington franchisee who also has a Hand & Stone location in Chapel Hill.
"We're getting a very positive reception. We're providing a service that more and more people are recognizing as important to their health and well-being," Johnson said.
The Mayfaire location is the 15th Hand & Stone to open in North Carolina, with a few more coming soon, he said. The business opened at Mayfaire Town Center with 20 employees, a number Johnson expects to grow.
After a three-year search in the Wilmington area, Johnson said he chose Mayfaire Town Center because it's an area where people live, work and shop. The business offers extended hours, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Johnson said.
On Wednesday, CBL Properties, the owner of Mayfaire Town Center, announced that the company would close its shopping centers on Thanksgiving Day and open most at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, Nov. 24. That doesn't mean all the stores in the outdoor shopping venues of Mayfaire Town Center, which CBL Properties owns, and Mayfaire Community Center, which CBL Properties does not own but manages, will be closed.
"Department stores, movie theaters, restaurants, and retailers with exterior mall entrances will have the option to open their stores on Thursday," according to the announcement from CBL Properties (NYSE:CBL).
At Mayfaire Town Center, for example, the Regal movie theater will have hours on Thanksgiving Day and the Belk department store is also expected to open at 4 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.
But the decision to close centers on the November holiday worked well last year for CBL Properties, officials said.
“The support that we received last year when we made this decision was overwhelmingly positive,” said Stephen Lebovitz, president and CEO of CBL Properties, in the release. “It is based on this feedback from our retail partners, employees of CBL and retailers at our properties, as well as the customers in our markets that we made the decision to again close our centers on Thanksgiving Day.”
Johnson said being closed on Thanksgiving will give his Hand & Stone team the chance to spend the holiday with friends and family.
Meanwhile, that option helps bring back some of the traditional Black Friday excitement, said Paige Coniglio, specialty leasing manager and marketing director for Mayfaire. The yearly Santa's Workshop and holiday command center will be located in the former hhgregg location at 830 Inspiration Drive in Mayfaire Town Center, Coniglio said, and the first 250 in line at the location at 8 a.m.on Black Friday will get gift cards.
The festivities at 830 Inspiration Drive will also include other promotions from Mayfaire's retailers and restaurants, holiday music and photo opportunities, she said.
