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On the search for bags that work

By Wire services
Published January 31, 2006

Work bags - like jobs - come with all sorts of benefits, qualifications and compensations.

"As kids, we were always carrying around way too many schoolbooks in our backpacks, to the point where we felt like we could easily fall backward due to the weight," recalls Alle Fister, marketing director for Shopbop, an Internet retail site. "Now that we're all a little older and hopefully wiser, we now have smarter, sleeker and more savvy ways to lug around our necessities for work rather than school." And lots of choices, from backpacks to mesh briefcases, slings, totes and laptop bags.

Even the most ordinary sack can be made more functional with an additional padded laptop case. And "because they're not seen 100 percent of the time . . . consumers are venturing into these bolder prints and colors as a way to add a little splash of fun," Fister says.

Work bags have a daunting task: fit a certain personality, look nice and hold a tremendous amount of stuff. Colleen Evans, Marriott International director of public relations, loves her trendy, oversized Botkier purse. She uses the two outside zipper pockets for her cell and BlackBerry - safe but still accessible.

"The bag is also big enough for my Pepsi One, address book, makeup bag, calendar, wallet and sunglasses," Evans says.

You're getting your hair cut after work at James Joseph salon in Boston. You arrive at 6, and five hours later you're rolling to the music and mojitos. If you're at Rik Rak salon in Miami, your highlights could be topped off with wine and empanadas.

Around the country, day spas and salons are adding happy hours, spirits and even club music to the mix of services. The complimentary glass of wine is not unusual, but in some areas it has ballooned into something bigger.

Picture a club atmosphere and fruit martinis, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some salons dim the lights past a certain hour and blink them just before closing time.

Extra services have become almost a must, thanks to the exploding numbers of competitors. The number of day spas has almost doubled in four years, the Journal says, to 8,734 with revenues of about $5.4-billion. Even as spa visits have grown, they are still not enough to fill all the service chairs.

The amenities have another upside: The salon experience becomes a social outing. Owners say customers are more likely to relax and linger for special services. It becomes a night out.

But the practice has not expanded without some blips. Occasionally a client may have too many martinis. Some salons have had to get liquor licenses and hire bartenders. In Toledo last year, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms confiscated 17 bottles of Champagne.

And in Beverly Hills, one owner switched to white tea and cookies because clients lingered too long past closing time. But the plus is, who cares if your hair looks like Peter Pan's?

[Last modified January 30, 2006, 16:50:05]