A day at the spa typically means a few blissful hours of relaxing treatments in a quiet, serene setting.
Not at Amy Nichols’ spa.
A day a her Tysons-area spa is more like a “12-hour party” and usually involves hours of running around, playing in sprinklers … and barking.
Nichols’ Happy Tails Dog Spa caters to the canine set with a day spa designed especially for dogs — which means more running and less relaxing.
“Dogs don’t want to sit down and have a pedicure,” said the Sykesville, Md., native. “Mostly they want to be with each other. They want to hang out with each other, roll around on the floor, lick each other. That’s their ultimate version of fun.”
The spa celebrates its fourth anniversary next Thursday, and with the popularity of upscale pet services at an all-time high — last year, grooming and boarding alone pulled in $2.7 billion in the U.S. — Happy Tails plans to expand its services in the Washington region.
The company, which opened a second, bigger location in White Flint last month, is working with several franchisees to open locations in Frederick, Howard, Loudoun and Prince William counties by the end of 2006. It also has a franchise in Houston and will soon open one in Chicago.
Happy Tails provides traditional grooming services, as well as supervised day care, boarding and training for its more than 3,000 clients.
While Nichols’ spa has done well in the affluent Washington region — the company generated $1.3 million in revenue last year — it’s actually pretty tame in the grand scheme of dog spas. The concept has become so popular in recent years that AOL CityGuide even has a page dedicated to the top 11 dog spas in the country (a Telluride, Colo., spa with “pawdicures” and chef-prepared meals tops the list).
“People have started to treat their pets more and more like family members,” said Tierra Griffiths, a spokeswoman for the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.
“Anything in the human industry that’s popular or a trend is translating into the pet industry.”
