DURANGO, Colo. – Christine Helm is an unlikely executive.

Self-proclaimed “non-corporate,” this woman with an easy-going style and fun-loving nature also has, perhaps in spite of herself, a keen mind and passionate love of business. It’s a combination that has taken her along a circuitous path to Durango and to the founding of the successful Spaaah Shop & Day Spa.

Originally from Philadelphia, Helm spent a summer at the Jersey Shore before moving to Boulder to attend CU. There she earned her business degree, and by the time she graduated, was managing the school’s language lab – one of the largest in the country – overseeing 15 employees and a collection of thousands of items. Armed with her degree and unbridled optimism, she left the states for England to pursue international business.

“I literally just landed: ‘OK. I’m here. Hire me.’ I had no idea,” said Helm who was met with no warmth from the Brits. “I learned what it really feels like to be discriminated against. Being white in America, you can’t really understand it.”

With doors closing to her merely because she was a young American woman, and with no money, she took her first job in food service. A hard worker, Helm became a prized employee, but the experience was challenging.

Even though they speak English, everything is different,” she said, noting that she’d had to come to grips with failure – for the first

The Spaaah Shop & Day Spa is located at 934 Main Ave. in Downtown Durango.

time. “For example, how do you hook up a phone, or the electricity. If you go to Yemen, you expect it to be foreign, but in England you think it’s going to be easier. No one was there to help me.”

While international business might not have been in the cards, Helm learned a great deal, including appreciation of the U.S.

“We have our problems, but when somebody here is upset, (I say) go live somewhere else and see how you do,” she said.

Helm returned to the states to pursue her MBA at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga and following graduation made her way to Durango.

“I got here, got a job, got fired, got mad and looked around and said, ‘What do I do?’” said Helm, who realized she was hardwired for business. “I’d always wanted to start a business, so I thought I might as well do it while I was young.”

When Helm opened the original Spaaah Shop at 988 Main Ave. on May 1, 2004, many wondered at the prudence of such a venture. Durango has seen its share of wannabe shopkeepers open with a gusto and flurry along Main, only to close in short order. What most didn’t know as the Spaaah Shop opened was that Helm had done her homework and written a comprehensive business plan. She knew what she was doing.

“You have to look at what the market needs, not necessarily what you want to do,” said Helm, having noted the opportunity in the mid-level spa store type operation. “There’s a price/quality grid. In Durango there was the one side, high/quality/high price, and the other low quality/low price, with this big, gaping hole in the middle, and that’s where I saw my place.”

Skin care and the spa business wasn’t completely foreign to Helm, as while in graduate school she worked at the Natural Body Day Spa and Shoppe. She, thus, had key contacts with suppliers, and friends in the business, but she also had a specific vision for the Spaaah Shop.

“I came from a blue collar area in Philadelphia, which shapes my entire philosophy,” said Helm. “So what is the Spaaah Shop? It’s a place where everybody is welcome. It’s a place where if you just rolled out of bed and haven’t put your make-up on, you’re still ok. It’s a place where people who work can come and explore. Our lives are so crazy, and I want people to feel comfortable somewhere. Everything you hate about shopping in corporate America is not in the Spaaah Shop, and it works. You can have a good, solid business without using those tactics.”

Indeed it’s worked well enough that in 2007, Helm took the next step in her long term vision and launched construction of the Day

Original brick walls, hard wood floors add an historic feature to the manicure, pedicure room in the Day Spa.

Spa. Moving to 934 Main, she re-established the shop – now frequented by those seeking a source for the nationally popular bareMinerals® make-up line, as well as luxuriant lotions, soaps and more – and gutted the rear of the historic building. She bared brick and hard wood floors, and created an urban spa and sanctuary including five treatment rooms for massages and facials, and stations for manicures, pedicures and detoxification, plus a waiting area. The Spaaah Shop & Day Spa opened in October 2007.

“It’s funny, in terms of the day spa, I still don’t know what people think it is,” said Helm. “All I know is when they go back there they say, ‘It’s not what I thought.’ I think they expect one little room.”

Given the Main Ave. location, the Spaaah Shop & Day Spa operates much more like a retail store, and unlike most spas, accepts walk-ins. Helm considered this crucial because of Durango’s tourist economy. As a result, she is fully-staffed, seven days a week, with some 15 to 20 employees, more during the summer.

“It was a choice I made,” she says of building a “team” out of her staff, though it hasn’t gone without angst, especially since the build-out. “I don’t have a family, but I now have 20 children. You make sacrifices yourself so you can pay them.”

Beyond taking care of her customers, Helm believes in taking care of her employees. She’s built the business without “squeezing the life out of them,” and also pays a fair wage. All are trained to be open, friendly and helpful, but not “push product” on anyone. As a result, Helm has built a cadre of loyal customers, including out-of-town groups of women who travel to Durango for a Spaaah Shop getaway.

As Helm established the business, she also became a beacon for other aspiring entrepreneurs. She’s considered expanding or franchising the shop and spa, but employing her skills as a business consultant is falling into place. Indeed, it appears to be the “next step” in Helm’s career. She enjoys hearing others’ plans and sharing her own creative ideas and perspective – as well as providing hard business advice.

“When I was in my 20s I kind of fumbled around, (asking myself) what am I going to do. And I hated that feeling of not knowing where I belonged or where I was going,” said Helm. “Then (after everything), here I am with all this experience. I couldn’t have masterminded it any better.”

Christine Helm received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Durango Chamber of Commerce in January 2006.

Learn more about the Spaaah Shop & Day Spa on line at www.spaaahshop.com, or reach Helm through the shop at 970.375.1866.

 indiana@durangodowntown.com

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