By Madina Toure
A new massage parlor in Flushing is targeting middle- and upper-class residents.
Open since February, Sun Spa, located at 137-08 Northern Blvd., offers massage therapies in ocean- and winter-themed rooms, with other themes, to help relieve the tensions in clients’ bodies.
Sophie Zheng, 38, the spa’s co-manager, said massage therapy addresses the various illnesses and problems that people deal with on a daily basis.
“It’s not the medicine, it’s what you do every day that affects you,” Zheng said.
Zheng came to the United States from China at the age of 15, and lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island before finally settling in Flushing, where she has lived for the past six years.
She previously worked in hospitality services, at a clinic and as a personal shopper for international clients. She opened the spa with co-manager Selina Liu after having been on the other side of the massage experience as a client.
“As women, we want to do business,” Zheng said.
The managers thought that there was a surplus of spa in the neighborhood catering to lower- and upper-income people, so they opened a spa that would cater to people in the middle- to upper-income bracket.
“We feel that it’s needed for the market,” Zheng said.
The spa, which has eight full-time and part-time employees, has eight rooms, two showers and a main area with a row of recliners for patrons. Customers mostly hail from Flushing, but people also come in from other Queens neighborhoods, like Elmhurst.
The spa conducts about four to five therapies per day, offering them both through reservations and walk-ins.
The Thai treatment, for example, helps to loosen tendons, and the cupping treatment heats your body to drain out bad energy. The lymphatic drainage relaxes and detoxes the body.
Zheng said the spa offers a diverse range of therapies in an effort to accommodate customers’ varying needs.
“Different therapies help different types of people,” she said.
The spa is planning to open another location in Bayside in the future.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
