While Egea Spa suddenly closed its doors under the ownership of Chris and Kathy Pappas last week, it is not the end for the business. The Pappases told the RoundTable Wednesday evening that it will be reopening under new ownership on Thursday morning.
On Dec. 1, all employees were sent a similar message that was posted on Egea’s website announcing the spa’s closure and encouraging employees to apply for unemployment. The closure was immediate; some clients still had standing appointments on Thursday and Friday of that week, according to an employee.
The spa, at 1521 Sherman Ave., had been in business for 19 years, according to the note on its website.
In a post on the Facebook group “Support Evanston Shops, Salons and Studios” that announced Egea’s closure, the more-than-400 comments mostly consisted of customers concerned for their gift cards that they had either just received or had been waiting to use.
In a phone interview with the RoundTable, Kathy Pappas said that all gift cards and packages will be honored under the new ownership. Although the Pappases said they could not share who the new owner is at this time, they said that the individual has experience running large spas.
“The new owner will be very involved in the business,” Chris Pappas said. “They come from a wonderful and relevant industry-specific background.”
Both Kathy and Chris Pappas said that the next few days will be a transitional period for Egea and employees are staying on with the new owner.
“Our goal is to have this be transparent for our clients. I would never want to impact our customer service. We are doing all of the hard work behind the scenes,” Kathy Pappas said.
i guess the gift card i have for 125 dollars is now just a piece of useless plastic!