The moment one sets foot in Bubbles & Mane, you immediately sense a vibe of beauty, wellness and spiritual harmony, and know you are about to be totally immersed in a self-care experience. Just the walk from the front door to the check-in desk relaxes the mind and fills the senses with an array of sights, shapes, scents and colors coming from hundreds of products, each beautifully displayed on wooden shelves and incorporated with decorative elements so that the full effect is art in itself.
Each of these products were carefully curated by Michelle DeMartino, owner and CEO of this one-of-a-kind wellness destination in Astoria, N.Y., and many came from an Immediate Opportunity campaign run last year with RangeMe. Aside from providing an assortment of clean beauty, wellness and lifestyle products for her customers, they set the tone of the place for everyone who visits.
Indeed, the products are a great introduction to what waits at the end of the hallway: two floors and 2,500-square-feet of services for hair, skin, nails, body, mind and spirit – as well as a space for community gatherings and workshops where local residents can relax, learn and grow.
A beauty and wellness entrepreneur’s latest evolution
DeMartino has spent more than two decades in the beauty game. She started her career at Warren Tricomi, a luxury salon in Greenwich, Ct. before embarking on a freelance career working on photo shoots and wedding styling, and her personal specialty is textured hair. During the pandemic she worked out of a studio in her apartment, which eventually made her eager for a storefront of her own.
In 2022 she launched Astoria Beauty Bar, a 450-square-foot location with two styling chairs and two shampooing stations just a few blocks away. While she primarily focused on hair styling and related products, this is where the germ of an idea for something bigger began.
“I was hosting selfcare Sundays at Astoria Beauty Bar, and that really sparked something really beautiful in the community,” she says. “I wanted to hone in and do more of that. So I was looking to expand into a larger space with more services and a larger retail area, and room to host events.”
DeMartino joined the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program and it was there where she put the plan together for what eventually became Bubbles & Mane, which just opened late last year. “We want to grow Bubbles & Mane into a wellness and self-care destination where people can come, feel heard, be able to express themselves and really walk away feeling renewed,” she says. “And I really want to take it national.”
The Bubbles & Mane name came about because DeMartino wanted something that reflected the fun and celebratory nature of the new venture. “We wanted the brand to be fun and flirty,” she says. “I do a lot of bridal services, and we wanted to cater to that clientele as well. And when you’re celebrating the best moments of your life you want to have a champagne toast or bubbly. And when I was out at a Long Island vineyard and saw the bubbles in my rose, it just clicked. And of course Mane is from hair.”
Services for hair, skin, nails and beyond
Past the hall full of beauty and wellness products, you reach the check-in desk and then the place opens up into a wide and very welcoming space. To the left is a mocktail bar (which will also have coffee, tea and matcha), which is surrounded by comfortable chairs and a 10-foot long communal table for guests to socialize during their treatments.
A couple of steps up leads to the salon proper, featuring five styling chairs, three shampooing stations, and tons of space, as this area also doubles as an event room where DeMartino will host parties, educational workshops and community events.
“We plan to curate activities for our community,” says Demartino. “That could be anything from birthday parties, bachelorette parties, or a girls day out. We want to do a book club. So for me as a female entrepreneur, I want to get other local female artists in here and curate something really special. We’re also going to work with some local restaurants and bring in catering for these events.”
Downstairs you’ll find a lounge area that leads to two treatment rooms for facials, massages and body scrubs and then a nail salon area with two very high-tech mani and pedi stations. As with upstairs, the feel is warm and inviting with lots of wood finish.
Finding the right products to match the vibe
A key focus of DeMartino when she launched Bubbles & Mane was to provide a wide variety of beauty, wellness and lifestyle products that were aligned with services she provides, and more than 50 linear feet of shelving feature everything from hair, skin and nail products, candles, brushes, books, accessories and even some apparel.
To find some of these products, DeMartino worked closely with RangeMe’s Colleen Warholic on an Immediate Opportunity campaign, which RangeMe facilitates for retailers looking to find specific categories or themes of products. In DeMartino’s case, she was looking for products that included:
- A clean beauty focus: Products must meet high safety and ingredient standards.
- Female-owned and local: A commitment to supporting other women in business.
- Aesthetic harmony: The packaging must match the “clean girl aesthetic” of the salon.
- Sensory experience: The scent, texture, and visual appeal must be intentional.
“Each product had to really match our brand,” says DeMartino. “From the packaging design, to the way it smells, it has to engage as many of our senses as possible.”
Once the product criteria was set, brands on RangeMe that matched them were invited to submit their products for consideration. The campaign brought in over 170 brand submissions, and DeMartino narrowed it down to roughly 70 products from which she requested samples to evaluate before making her selections.
So far, DeMartino has onboarded more than a dozen products, and plans to add more shortly. Among some of them are Natalie Mills Beauty Jade Rollers, Scrub Me Good candles and body scrubs/oils, and Studio FSR candles. She will also be sourcing most of her nail care products from RangeMe, as well. “We knew right away which were the winning products for our brand,” she says. “It was pretty simple once I saw the stuff come in.”
One brand in particular was a big hit. The Volo Beauty microfiber towels practically sold out during the holidays following the Bubbles & Mane opening. As a textured hair specialist, DeMartino wasn’t surprised. “They absorb up to eight times the amount of moisture compared to regular towels,” she says. “For our curly girls, microfiber towels are really important because they’re a lot softer on the hair, more gentle, less likely to frizz the hair.”
From founder to CEO: The importance of training staff
Moving these products off the shelves means weaving them into conversations with customers as they receive their various services and treatments, and with a large staff and plans for expansion, this means learning to hire, educate and delegate while maintaining the high standards she set when she was the only one behind the chair.
“I have a clear vision and I really want to make sure that the people I’m hiring understand that vision and are able to kind of replicate the brand,” she says. “I think that the hardest part about being an entrepreneur is giving up some of the control to the right people. But it’s necessary.”
Education is a non-negotiable part of the Bubbles & Mane culture. Stylists are expected to attend classes at least once a quarter, and DeMartino looks for brands that are willing to come in and educate the staff on how to use and sell their products.
“I don’t care if you’ve been in the business 20 years like I have, there’s always something you can learn,” she says. “I’m not just going to bring anybody in. You got to work with me just as much as I’m working with you. It’s part of the brands’ job to also come in and help us educate.”
The road to Nashville and beyond
While Astoria is the flagship for Bubbles & Mane, DeMartino has national ambitions. She envisions locations in major cities across the country, serving as the go-to destination for bridal parties, bachelorette parties and other events.
“My main goal with Bubbles and Mane is we really want to take it nationally,” she says. “I do want to be in Nashville next. We really want to be in all of those major cities where there’s those fun events happening.”
With systems and processes in place to ensure a consistent high-level of service, DeMartino will use the Astoria location as the springboard for this next move, taking her learnings from the first location to build on for the next. And while she will continue to seek new ways of driving amazing experiences for her clients, and finding new products to surprise and delight them, she will stay true to her vision, something she says is important for any entrepreneur.
“Have a vision and stick to it,” she says. “You have to have a blueprint. You have to have a vision for your brand. Stay true to who you are and what your brand is and keep going for it.”
Editor’s note: Watch the full video interview – with a visual tour of Bubbles & Mane – below! And you can find the audio version on our podcast: Winning Pitches with RangeMe & ECRM.