Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Review of Radiance

When I first moved to Columbia Heights, I itemized everything I could get within a 1 to 2 minute walk of my place...

Coffee, shipping, tutoring, insurance, money and now... botox?

Radiance Medispa on 14th offers just that, along with a plethora of other services. I'm not really a spa type, and I'm certainly not a botox type, but maybe once or twice a year I indulge. The other day my indulgence was a massage.

The place was incredibly clean, friendly and I immediately felt comfortable. My masseur was very professional and I suppose very good. I say suppose because I thought I was going in for the "Swedish" massage, but it seems my masseur thought it was "deep tissue." Deep tissue kind of hurts, but Swedish - not so much. Either way, I imagine it was a good service, despite the soreness that came with it.

What isn't so great about Radiance is the price list. I paid $90 for an hour long massage. That's not cheap, and if you shop around DC you can certainly find cheaper ($40 facials at the Aveda institute!). But - they do have daily specials and every Friday botox is $100 off! I can't tell how much botox costs to begin with, it just says "$13 per unit," but I guess that's like getting about 8 units free? What's a botox unit?

What I can't figure out about Radiance is who they think their customer is in CH. Those places can't depend on people like me visiting once or twice a year, they need regular customers. Columbia Heights doesn't seem like a place with a lot of rich old people (aka weekly spa customers), and they don't do the smaller services that might get more traffic (mani/pedi).

But good luck to them. Maybe I'll be back next year.

Online: Radiance Medispas

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