A snazzy new look for Planet Beach

Say goodbye to the orange, purple and yellow motif at Planet Beach locations. Franchisees of the spa chain were put on notice Wednesday morning that compliance with the companywide remodel is mandatory for all stores four years and older.

Say hello to royal purple and silver.

At its company convention held this week at the Rio, Planet Beach CEO Stephen Smith showed franchise owners renderings of the new look and announced a financing plan to help them make it happen.

"Guys, it takes money to make money," Smith told the group.

Smith then told the group his New Orleans-based Planet Beach store completed its round of renovations in May 2012. Since then, its same-store sales have risen 30 percent.

The CEO told the group to shoot for increases of 20 percent.

To complete the renovations, Planet Beach partnered with Denver-based Nexus Retail Management, a company that offers turn-key, large-scale new store development to companies.

"When you execute across every dimension, you win and your business wins," said David Fisher, founder and CEO of Nexus. "We're here to uplift the chain."

There's a $6,000 renovation fee and franchisees sign up online. New stores pay a $2,500 program deposit.

"We're going to do this as fast as we can chainwide," Fisher said.

There are four locations in the Las Vegas Valley, and Lloyd Zellner, the Las Vegas territory representative for Planet Beach, said he'd like to see two to four more soon.

Nationwide, Planet Beach has 250 stores, with 20 more in the pipeline.

"2013 is going to be a very good year," Smith said.

The company also is going paperless, and Smith told his franchisees they "might as well get used to it."

Of Planet Beach's customer base, 87.2 percent of them are female, with the most revenue being generated from females who are 22 to 32.

"The most valuable individual customer we have right now is the 27-year-old female," Smith said.

Besides tanning services, Planet Beach has offered automated day spa services to customers for years as a response to backlash against ultraviolet tanning beds.

"We knew we had to do something before it became a problem," Smith said.

In the first quarter after day spa machines were installed at 20 stores, sales at those stores went up 47 percent.

Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.