October 2012
| Business World Magazine | 97
themselves on a larger scale, and that sign
kicked his mind into gear.
Smith opened his first salon at that
very same uptown location. Since funds were
limited, he could only change one of the
words on the sign outside. “Beach” stayed,
and he replaced “Electric” with “Planet” to
represent the desire to escape to the beach
–
to have an “otherworldly” and relaxing ex-
perience. The first spa was an overnight suc-
cess, and so were the spas that followed. The
Planet Beach franchise system grew to sev-
eral hundred locations and multiple foreign
countries.
Senior VP of Franchise Nancy Mesa
Price co-founded the company with Smith.
