Lower King Street Gets Filled With Serenity Spa

The last major storefront on Chappaqua's lower King Street has been filled with Serenity Spa, which opened on Dec. 21 at .

The spa is owned by Jun Choi, who is also the owner of in Pleasantville. He is a Pleasantville resident and has two kids who attend schools in its district.

Serenity's main products are manicures, pedicures, messages and facials. His offerings as a new store include $20 manicure/pedicure combinations, as well as discounts of up to 20 percent off on some services.

Choi decided to open because he was looking for a bigger space to provide more services. Aside from not having room to do massages and facials, Jun explained that Venus only has four pedicare spaces and five for manicures. In contrast, Serenity has 10 pedicure spots and seven manicure spots.

In coming to Chappaqua, Choi faces an increasingly crowded downtown market for nail salons, a topic that has been controversial among some in the community who feel there are too many. Choi, who has heard about this criticism, noted that he has been in the area for a long time - Venus has been in Pleasantville since 1995 - and that he has clients from Chappaqua.

"That's all my neighborhood," he said about the region and about links between Pleasantville and Chappaqua. His other big communities for clients include Armonk and Briarcliff Manor.

For now, Choi will keep Venus open because he wants to retain his loyal customers who are used to going there. Further out, however, he is not sure. One reason is because competing has become tougher in Pleasantville, which has a market that is more crowded than Chappaqua's.