Retreat Day Spa moves to Vestavia Hills

The Retreat Day Spa just moved to the Cahaba Heights area at the beginning of September, but owner Jill Copeland already feels at home on Crosshaven Drive.

Coming from the previous location in Irondale, Copeland said the best thing about the move is the community of clients and other business owners.

“The community is excited,” Copeland said. “People just drop by, and they’re excited to have us here, and that’s something we missed. That’s been the best part of the transition, just having a community of other businesses to support us and the people who live nearby who are excited to have us here.”

The new location has more space to accommodate more clients and practitioners. There are six rooms in total, four massage rooms and two primarily for aesthetics. There is also a relaxation room where clients can wait for their services to start.

Copeland has been doing massage therapy for 17 years, but she isn’t sure how she started and she had no plans to own a spa. She took over the Retreat from Molly Flora in June 2018. Though it wasn’t in her plans, Copeland said she enjoys running the business because it works both sides of her brain and balances her out.

“It satisfies a part of my personality that loves to be productive,” Copeland said. “I like having the quiet time in the room with clients and then my busy time. I’ve never done retail before, but all of that is really fun to me to have products to keep up with.”

Some of those products come from Eminence Organic Skin Care line, a certified Biodymanic farm in Hungary. According to its website, its products are all handmade, cruelty-free and formulated without parabens, sodium lauryl sulfates, synthetic dyes, petrochemicals, animal by-products, phthalates, GMOs and triclosan.

“They’re the number one top-rated skincare line for 10 years in a row by spa professionals,” Copeland said. “Eminence is 99.1% organic. It’s a really effective line, and they have a lot of great things they do.”

Those great things include having an emphasis on giving back to the environment and charities around the world. For every retail product Retreat buys, Eminence plants a tree. The company also provides organic meals for children undergoing cancer treatments and donates to The Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Retreat is also a certified member of Eminence’s Green Spa Program, which recognizes spas for reducing their environmental impact and encouraging others to do the same.

“Eminence has a checklist of things if you want to be considered a green spa,” Copeland said. “There are things that we can’t do for sanitary purposes, but we try as much as we can to be environmentally friendly.”

For new clients, Copeland recommends checking out their spa packages because you can get a taste of the different services offered.

“You can choose a package based on how much time you want to spend here,” Copeland said. “We have some that are just an hour with a massage and a facial for 30 minutes each, or you can do two hours, three hours or four hours.”

There was a grand opening event Sept. 26, which included gift certificates, raffle prizes, product discounts and food and drinks from local vendors. The spa will also be a trolley stop, along with its neighbor, The Blue Willow, for Deck the Heights.

The Retreat Day Spa is located at 3920 Crosshaven Drive and open from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday; 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Appointments can be made online at theretreatbham.com or by phone at 205-834-8349.