Skin studio to reopen after £70k refurb

Elite Skin Studio on Newport High Street was forced to close in March last year due to the pandemic, but mother and daughter duo who operate the business took the time to reinvest and expand into new premises.

Fliss Ashton and her mother, Anne Ashton, who founded the specialist skin business working from home in 2001, had to close the doors on their business just as they were about to sign a new lease on neighbouring premises to double their capacity.

Miss Ashton said: “We were faced with a stark choice to either hunker down and wait for the storm to hopefully pass or to grasp the exciting opportunity we saw opening up in front of us.”

They decided it was the perfect time to knock two premises into one and expand the business as well as launch their re-brand, which was already in the pipeline.

“Having made the commitment, we are now absolutely delighted with the outcome,” Miss Ashton said.

“We see our experience as a testament to Government policy for the SME sector – we were fortunate in that we could embrace it – otherwise it could have been a long wait.”

The skin experts are now eagerly awaiting the roll-out of the Government’s successful roadmap so they can reopen their doors on April 12.

Having opened briefly at the end of 2020, to then be closed again at the end of December, Fliss, 28 said they were very excited to reveal the new premises of their skin clinic and looked forward to seeing their clients old and new.

Elite Skin Studio now operates across 30A and 30B on the High Street next to Costa, with parking at the rear of the premises, and boasts six treatment rooms, with industry-leading equipment, offering an array of specialist skin and laser treatments and a range of cosmeceutical homecare products.

The investment was made in the new premise’s refurbishment, a new brand and website, and equipment including a £10,000 skin analysis machine. During lockdown they have also been running online skin consultations, live advice sessions on social media called 'Skin & Tonic', and webinars for their clients to help those at home concerned about their skin conditions, which they will continue even when they reopen.

“We have three new team members who have joined us during lock down and we cannot wait to welcome those talented skin specialists to our business.

“We have already had people contacting us desperate to invest in their skin after being at home and inside during the last few months, it is really having a knock-on effect on peoples mental health and wellbeing.

“Our clients have told us they want to focus on feeling good and feeling their best - especially as their planned abroad holidays are currently off the agenda.”

Anne, celebrating 21 years in business this year, said she had been on Newport High Street since 2016 and the expansion into the neighbouring premises showed her commitment to the high street and peoples increasing awareness of wellbeing and appearance.

“We love the high street and have missed it so much. Newport is very special to us and offers so much right here on our doorstep – we don’t need to go anywhere else.

“We cannot wait to see everyone’s doors open again and the street scene of amazing independent retailers and businesses become bustling again.

“Personally, I would like to thank the Newport businesses who have remained open throughout and offered such an incredible service to us and our clients. We hope the investment and relaunch in our business proves we will come back stronger from the pandemic and will still be here in another 21 years.”