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Everybody's Business

Spa smells good, men look great

It may have the aroma of a bakery, which is good, but it's really a spa focusing on helping men look their very best.

By MICHAEL CANNING
Published December 16, 2005

Joann Dunlap seems to understand that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Good thing, since her new business is all about providing men with things like body wraps and pedicures.

So her J's Razor Edge Barber Spa, which opened Dec. 1 at 4343 W Kennedy Blvd., offers an array of services that reads like an apres menu. Wine and chocolate mousse body wraps, chocolate body scrubs, champagne fizz ball manicures.

"It smells like you are baking a cake," Dunlap said of the chocolate treatments. Those and the fruit-based treatments aren't just appetizing gimmicks. Fruits and cocoa have exfoliating, antioxidant and skin-nourishing properties, and are all the rage in spas and salons.

And that's the idea behind J's, a day spa and barbershop for men. The idea is catching on around the country as some surveys show that the unisex salon concept of the 1970s is losing favor with men.

Dunlap decorated her 1,000-square-foot space near Manhattan Avenue in shades of mustard and caskwood, colors inspired by a California wine country vacation she took several years ago.

Haircuts, manicures and pedicures, massages, body waxing and paraffin wax hand dips also are on J's menu.

Though the place caters to men, "we do not discriminate against our sisters," Dunlap said.

Women can partake of the same services but won't find perms or acrylic nails. Dunlap doesn't want the intense odors generated by those services fouling up the aromas of the more tasty treatments.

Along with Dunlap, J's is co-owned by Joe Testa, a Hillsborough County sheriff's detective. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

GALLERY ADDS COFFEE: Matthew's Fine Art Gallery has become Mirta's Gallery Coffeehouse.

The space at 119 S Hyde Park Ave. still devotes the same amount of space to art, co-owner Alice Hall said. But as the name implies, a coffeehouse has been added. So where did they get the space? Basically, the former gallery office.

So where's the office?

"What used to be the closet is now the office," Hall said with a laugh.

The maxed-out 2,700-square-foot gallery in the shadow of the University of Tampa's minarets opened Dec. 9. Its first show, a group exhibition called "New Beginnings," features local and out-of-town artists.

They include oil portraits by Tampa's Jason Fondren, the abstract paintings of Palm Harbor's Andy Gregory, and the photography of Clearwater's Ric Savid.

Tables, sofas, love seats and comfy chairs invite browsers to linger with a cup of coffee or cappuccino. Desserts such as cheesecake, petit fours, brownies, danishes and cakes also are offered.

Hall runs the gallery with co-owners Tony Gettner and Albert Burruzo, who was a partner at Matthew's gallery. Burruzo named the new incarnation after his mother, Mirta.

"New Beginnings" runs through sometime in mid February, Hall said. Gallery hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

HO HO HEAVE-HO ON HOLD: After predicting that his Ho Ho Chinese Restaurant would leave its longtime SoHo home in October, owner Victor Leon now says it looks like he won't vacate 533 S Howard Ave. until May or June.

For several months Leon has been planning to move his business to Armenia Avenue and Columbus Drive in West Tampa and gearing it more toward takeout. Renovations at the former Don Juan Cafe are nearing completion, and Leon says the new Ho Ho should open sometime in January.

Trying to find another business to assume his lease at his SoHo location has proved more difficult. A host of restaurants waged a bidding war, which was reportedly won by the McDonald's-backed Chipotle Mexican Grill chain.

But Leon said it's not a done deal yet; Chipotle hasn't signed a lease on the space as far as he knows. Chipotle officials did not return phone calls from the Times seeking comment.

That means there will temporarily be two Ho Hos. So it appears Leon's plan to work less and simplify his life will be on hold, for at least a while.

- Do you know something that should be everybody's business? Call 226-3394, or e-mail mikecanning@hotmail.com

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 10:05:12]