Business expands services for anniversary

Novita Spa on the Square is celebrating its eighth anniversary with growth and an emphasis on the meaning behind the spa's name, owner Megan DiMartino said.

"Novita is an Italian word. It means new birth, new life, something new," she said.

The full-service day spa offers a wide selection of services including facials, massages and body wraps and is preparing to introduce medical spa services, beginning with foot care. The spa will also add other medical facial services, including Botox, dermal fillers and laser hair removal.

DiMartino and her staff have begun working with Dr. Gary Prant of Arbor Foot Health Center in Austin, a podiatrist who will act as Novita's medical director for foot-related laser treatments.

Prant has been training the nail technicians at Novita to use a laser for a specific toenail-related treatment not normally covered by insurance.

He said he was "very impressed" with DiMartino and Novita's staff. Several of the nail technicians have received training as advanced nail technicians, and two have received training as medical nail technicians, which requires interning with a podiatrist

"Megan's a really sharp lady, and she wants to do it right," said Prant, who has been working with lasers since 1985. "That's one of the reasons I got involved. If you're going to do it, do it right."

Novita is not only a spa—it also offers DiMartino's own brand of cosmetics and clinical skin care products, she said.

"I have been manufacturing result-oriented clinical skin care products since 1992, and these products are sold to other spas and medical spas throughout the world," she said.

DiMartino said she is also re-engineering the body and facial products.

"When science dictates, then we go back to the drawing board," she said, adding that the company is changing the formula in ways that studies indicate will be better for customers.

DiMartino said she anticipates releasing the new formulas in April or May.

"It doesn't mean that whatever [clients are] using now is bad. It just means that it's going to be better," DiMartino said.

Career goals

Producing cosmetics and skin care products had been a part of DiMartino's business plan almost since the beginning of her career, she said.

She sold her products through wholesale beauty distributors for many years and did a lot of consulting work on skin care but said she wanted to start her own spa and education center.

She moved in 1987 from New York City to Fort Worth, where she originally intended to open a spa.

"In the summer of 2003, I saw Georgetown and I stopped in my tracks," DiMartino said.

She decided to study the area and test the market in 2004.

DiMartino said she liked the feel of Georgetown and the diversity it offered, so she started Novita Spa on the Square in summer 2005 in a building with Diva, renting a space within the home dcor store to sell her products and offer spa services and treatments.

In 2007, she leased her current location, restored the building and moved the warehouse operations for her products to Georgetown.

Being able to apply her products in her own spa brought her journey and dream full-circle, DiMartino said.

"It's about helping people with their specific needs," she said. "I love what I do. I love people, and I love helping people."

Spa membership program

The Luxury Spa Membership program at Novita Spa on the Square is $79 per month. Each month, members receive one of five treatments, including:

• Revitalizing facial
• 60-minute massage
• Detox body wrap
• Salt Glo body exfoliation
• Tuscan retreat manicure and pedicure

Members can upgrade to the Ultimate Facial or a 90-minute massage for $30.

Members also receive 20 percent off other spa services and products and have access to the spa's amenities.

109 W. Seventh St., 512-864-2773, www.novitaspa.com

• Mon. 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
• Tue. 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
• Wed.–Sat. 10 a.m.–7 p.m.