Salon with student discounts, free birthday facials joins Pierce County plaza
Another business will soon move into the Peninsula Shopping Center, following a series of other recent arrivals in the last year that underscore the site’s potential for supporting future redevelopment in Gig Harbor’s downtown.
JAX Luxury Salon, currently located in suite 100 of the Harbor Inn Restaurant Building at 3111 Harborview Dr., will relocate to the shopping center in downtown Gig Harbor next spring. The salon posted a tour of their space on Instagram and noted their expanded capacity along with plans to offer new Japanese head spa services, massage therapy and pedicures. Customers will also have access to more parking than at their current space.
The salon will be the fifth business since May to join the Peninsula Shopping Center community, following Fusion Donut Cafe, Club Pilates, Big Nate’s Trading Cards and wholesale clothing store Sample Sale. That leaves two spaces still available for lease: an anchor retail space that’s about 25,000 square feet and a smaller suite that’s 1,421 square feet, according to The Rush Companies website.
Gordon Rush, CEO and founder of The Rush Companies, is listed in state business records as one of the governors for 3110 Judson Street, LLC, which owns the Peninsula Shopping Center property per Gig Harbor permit records. The other governor is a member of the Milgard family, known for their local philanthropy and founding the Milgard brand of windows and doors.
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Some spaces at the downtown retail site have been empty for years. JAX Luxury Salon co-owner Darren Swenson told The News Tribune that their future suite had previously been vacant for over five years, and he couldn’t remember what had occupied it before. The News Tribune has also reported extensively on the long search for a tenant to fill the site’s anchor retail spot, which was once a Thriftway before it became a QFC. Town & Country Market, originally interested in a location at the Village at Harbor Hill, eyed the space downtown for a while before deciding to pull out, The News Tribune reported.
Rush hosted a block party at the retail site in September to celebrate recent improvements at the Peninsula Shopping Center, including fresh paint, repaved concrete and updated striping, modern exterior lighting and landscape improvements throughout the site, according to their website.
In a phone call Friday, Danny Kruse, vice president of Rush Properties, reiterated the developer’s intent to continue revitalizing the retail site and making it an attractive place for business downtown.
“It had been a long time since there was any real investment in the center,” Kruse said. “And so we’re excited about that and we hope the community is, and so that was the intention of the block party.”
While there have been vacancies at the Peninsula Shopping Center, Kruse said that it hasn’t been difficult to get tenants to fill them.
“It has not been difficult to get tenants to come, as evidenced by the fact that we have one small space and one larger anchor space (left),” Kruse said. “The rest of the spaces filled up very quickly.”
JAX Luxury Salon to double stylist chairs, expand services
JAX will move into a suite between Harbor Barber and Mizu Steakhouse that’s about 5,300 square feet, nearly double the size of their current space, said Darren Swenson, who co-owns the salon with his son Aidan Swenson. Their goal is to be in the new space by May 1.
The salon will double the number of stylist chairs to reach a total of 16, plus four additional chairs for blowouts and another four for pedicures, he continued.
They’ll also have six spa rooms, up from just two in their current space. Two of the rooms will have estheticians offering waxing and facials, two will provide body massages and two will offer Japanese head spas — a special process that rejuvenates the scalp with a massage and nourishing treatments.
“ ... it’s truly a relaxing experience with the head spa, the way the water runs over your scalp and into the basin,” Swenson said. “It’s like being in a mini waterfall lying down ... . It’s extremely relaxing.”
The new location will also have a training area for stylists, an additional stylist break room and a “very relaxing waiting area” for customers waiting for their spa treatments, he said.
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Swenson said the salon plans to offer some opening specials, though it’s too early to say what those will be. They will also maintain their 15% discount for students up to age 21 and offer of a free 30-minute facial for customers during their birthday month.
“I’m most excited about elevating the experience for beauty and self-care for the folks who live in Gig Harbor and the surrounding communities to be able to just stay here and have this experience and not have to travel to other parts of Western Washington to have this level of self-treatment,” Swenson said.
