An Oasis of Calm & Total Relaxation – Harbour Day Spa By Linda Woodhead

Founders of Harbour Day Spa, Tracey Ivanovski and Leanne Morris, have been best friends and business partners for over 18 years. For over 17 years, this highly experienced duo has endeavoured to run Harbour Day Spa to the highest possible standards of service. This passion for integrity is matched only by their desire to create the ultimate luxury experience for every single client that enters the retreat.

Tracey and Leanne believe that what truly sets Harbour Day Spa apart, is the level of excellence, authenticity, and detail that is involved in each of the services provided. This idea of high-quality service is what inspired Tracey and Leanne to embark on this journey and continues to drive them to this very day.

Tracey and Leanne

From ensuring each guest is greeted by attentive and welcoming staff, to organising mini cakes for those celebrating their special day, Harbour Day Spa prioritises building trusting relationships with clients.

Having been in the same location for over 17 years, this year, in May, saw a brave new move with a re-location to new premises.

Described as exhausting, exhilarating and a wonderful feeling of accomplishment Tracey says, “It surprisingly turned out to be the silver lining to all that we have done over the past 17 years.”

“We just love being in the main street of Cleveland. It’s a beautiful village feeling and absolutely feels like home.” says Leanne.

Devastated that they were only given a month to vacate their 500 sq metre premises with 17 years of history was frightening for this tenacious duo, let alone going through a legal battle to force their landlords to give them more time.

Finding new premises, and using every last bit of energy they had to reassure their valuable team that their jobs and security were safe, so they could get through December, the busiest time of the year, was one of the toughest challenges Tracey and Leanne have faced, but face it they did and they have certainly come out the other end shining.

“The move itself came with its challenges and after the legal proceedings we had about 12 weeks to vacate. Getting trades was a huge challenge but we were fortunate to find a great builder and local contacts who were all ready to help. Our new business is a smaller area, 400 sq meters so we had to design our new business around the space we had. It made us look at the profitability of the different areas of our business and make some changes. Covid has changed the way people shop and also the services they need most. We looked at the profitability and adjusted our offerings,” Says Leanne.

Their new home on the main street of Cleveland, Brisbane is a beautiful old bank building that came with the large vault still intact. Apparently, the only way to get the vault out was to knock it down, so instead these two innovative entrepreneurs have turned it into a LED light room, now used for skin rejuvenation including healing acne by heightening the skins internal function. Not only can this beautiful space and treatments assist with faster healing for wounds or after surgery it also offers relaxation to relieve stress and anxiety. With both hair and beauty offerings well known at Harbour Day Spa, clients love the nourishing glow hair treatment with LED in the Vault!

The stunning spa boasts Hampton style luxury, with a touch of nautical flair and serenity as the team pride themselves on providing a warm, welcoming, professional and trusted beauty environment for their guests. “They should feel like they have walked into their best friend’s home and leave feeling beautiful, relaxed and more confident,” says Leanne

Currently employing 25 plus staff (usually depending on pregnancy!) they range from school-based trainees, apprentices, hair and beauty experts through to a nurse and doctor.

“Our manager has been a huge support throughout the transition of the move, keeping staff motivated and we also have regular support from other businesses. We have consultants who work with us on special projects, for example at the moment a consultant is working on our sales process,” says Leanne.

During covid however and recognising that their own personalised oil has been their number 1 selling product for 12 years, they have now extended their signature range of products which is an exciting move.