Actor Turned Entrepreneur Opens Hand & Stone Spa In Township

The Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa on Elizabeth Avenue features nine massage rooms, including this one, for couples.

For Del Greene, the opening of a Hand & Stone Massage & Facial Spa franchise is the realization of a long-held dream.

“I always wanted to create upscale spas,” the Short Hills resident said. “I always loved going to the higher-end spas.”

“For me, having a massage every month is part of my lifestyle,” he said. “It’s pretty important to me.”

Greene on Sept. 27 opened his spa in the Crossroads at Somerset center on Elizabeth Avenue. The spa’s signature service is a massage using river rocks warmed to 135 degrees that are placed on various muscles during the course of a massage.

“It’s wonderful,” Greene said.

The spa offers other massage modalities, including Swedish, deep-tissue, pre-natal and couples.

Also on the spa’s menu are a variety of facial treatments.

“We have a standard facial, but it really depends on a person’s skin type and what their overall goals are, whether it’s age protection, skin protection or whatever,” Greene said. The spa’s licensed estheticians “really customize those facials tower the individual clients.”

The spa also offers hair removal with a product that “is not as painful” as traditional waxing and does not irritate the skin as much as waxing, Greene said.

The spa features nine massage rooms – one of them for couples – and four facial rooms.

Greene said he chose the township for his franchise because of the demographics.

“I was just impressed with the town,” he said. “The location itself is in the center of the retail hub. All of the demographics looked good.”

Greene came by being a business owner somewhat circuitously, having spent 13 years as a marketing executive for Cushman & Wakefield. His last project there, he said, was serving as the head of global marketing for One World Trade Center.

Greene is also a former actor, having appeared on Broadway and in television as a singer and dancer.

The company he formed to own the Hand & Stone franchise was established to create hospitality and lifestyle-related companies, he said. Greene said he has plans to open more Hand & Stone locations, both within and without the state’s borders.

He also has a “concept” for a hotel, Greene said.

While the store is operating now, Greene said a formal grand opening – complete with ribbon cutting – probably won’t happen until the spring.

“It’s better than doing it in the winter time,” he said. “Then , everything is renewed, and it’s warm out.”

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