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Issue link: https://dayspamagazine.epubxp.com/i/150126
PROFILE Changing Ummelina has become a downtown Seattle fixture. with the Times When Nina Ummel first opened Ummelina International Day Spa in downtown Seattle 27 years ago, it was the only gig in town, and quickly cornered the burgeoning market. By 1999 (as DAYSPA noted in our original Ummelina profile published in the same year), following a relocation and expansion, it had built up a clientele numbering an impressive 24,000. "Since then, spas have been cropping up around here like wild mushrooms," jokes Ummel, whose official title is, fittingly, "chief visionary officer." "It must be the all the rain and damp weather!" Despite increasing competition from in-house spas at the city's upscale hotels ("Although, finally, we weren't the most expensive place in town!") and strip-mall spots in Seattle's rambling suburbs, Ummel 62 DAYSPA | SEPTEMBER 2013 and her crew have been able not only to survive but thrive—even opening a second location in Yakima Valley, an agricultural and wine-producing region around 150 miles south-east of the city, seven years ago. While Ummelina may no longer be the only option for Seattleites, the spa maintains name recognition throughout the Emerald City, and as Ummel notes, it isn't uncommon for concierges at those high-end hotels to send guests to her for what she calls a "truly unique experience." In the spa's nearly three decades of operation, Seattle and its residents have changed repeatedly, yet Ummel has had the almost uncanny ability to stay ahead of the trends and times. Her secret? You might say it's the core principles and ideals behind Ummelina that will likely PHOTOS COURTESY UMMELINA INTERNATIONAL DAY SPA Nearly three decades after opening, Ummelina International Day Spa is still rising to the occasion. By Shari Goldhagen