Meet The Owner of The New Nail Bar In Smithtown

SMITHTOWN, NY - Mike Issa may not be new to Smithtown, but his business definitely is.

Issa will soon be opening the highly-anticipated Polish Nail and Bar on 59 East Main Street. The business will be providing the usual nail salon services as well as a fully-stocked bar for guests to enjoy a beverage or two while getting their nails done.

This will be the first of its kind in Suffolk with one other location, also owned by Issa, in Wantagh.

He first got the idea to open the first "nail bar" when his wife and mother of their triplets expressed how hard it was to find time to get her nails done.

"She works full time and takes care of the kids so there's never any time to relax," Issa said.

So Issa "put out a feeler" on social media to see how the local residents would respond to a nail bar and overnight received over 3,000 responses from people saying it would be a good idea.

"That's when I figured out that there's something there," he said. "This is something that has never been done before. Forget the alcohol part, just a place that's open until 10 p.m. Then I said let's just up the ante and serve wine and beer."

While the storefront itself is still under construction, the plan is to give it a "spa like" feel without the "spa prices," Issa said.

"You walk in you got the mahogany floors, you got the chandeliers, you got the music," he said. "It's supposed to be a place where you relax. It's really all about making it an experience every time you come."

After the success of the Wantagh location, which opened last year, Issa chose to open a second location. Having been raised in Smithtown, it was the perfect location for the second Polish bar.

"I'm a bit biased because I'm originally from Smithtown but I do believe that Smithtown is a special community. It's a big community but its very small at the same time."

So far, the feedback from the community has been nothing but positive.

"We've gotten close to 200,000 people reach out in some way or another whether it's through social media, email, messages, etc., supporting the opening and just really excited about it and that makes us excited," he said.

However, the most exciting part of the process so far for Issa was getting the location and starting construction.

"It's almost like seeing a baby being born and growing," he said. "It's one of the greatest feelings seeing an idea turning into an actual tangible product or service."

Currently, Issa is looking to open a third location in either Huntington, Rockville Centre, or further east.

Patch photo