Cavana Ridge, formerly known as Cavana Spa and Salon, has moved from their 133-year-old Victorian home at 241 Mississaga St. W. to a brand new location at 4260 Burnside Line in Severn Township.
The move into a new home for Cavana Ridge has been in the works for over two years. Owners Lee and Joanne Johnston were looking for an opportunity to expand their business after spending 13 years at their Mississaga Street location.
“Over time, we organically grew a clientele that had us operating at full capacity for about three or four years. It got to the point where we had a waitlist for clients," Lee Johnston explained.
“Logistically, it became challenging working with the space we had. We made the best of it, but we needed more parking and more people space (and) ideally we wanted a building that was more efficient," he said.
The Mississaga Street location was sold to new owners who are planning on opening a bed and breakfast, according to Johnston.
Cavana Ridge officially opened the doors to their new location on Tuesday.
“For myself and my wife Joanne, the first location was actually our first home that we coupled with our first entrepreneurial effort,” Johnston explained.
“It is kind of bittersweet. It was an awesome chapter in our personal and business lives, but at the same time we are excited to have acquired this new facility that is so much more modern, efficient, and very beautiful in its own way,” he said.
The Burnside Line location was originally the Severn Township municipal office back in 1978 and was most recently a water testing facility. The site that overlooks Hawk Ridge Golf Club is on a four-acre property and is about double the size of their previous location.
“It has that more authentic spa feel, and we knew we could make this building our own through a massive renovation to create sophistication and charm that the other building had, but in a more modern way,” Johnston said.
“We created elegance and character. So much time and effort has been put into this building to create this elevated, very detailed opulent sort of experience,” he eplained.
Johnston believes his clients are going to enjoy and appreciate the new experience even more than what they enjoyed at the previous location. Johnston also teases his clients that there is more to come with the rebirth of the business.
“Right now we are classifying this as Phase 1," he said. "There are plans in the future for us to take the existing business in a few different directions.”
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, future phases of the business plan are being put on hold for now, Johnston says.
“We just want to get down to our wheelhouse and our foundation of services that our clients know and love, but there is an opportunity when the current climate sort of balances, that we would entertain getting into Phase 2 and beyond,” he said.
