Heyday Is Expanding Downtown, Both Temporarily and Permanently

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The notoriety that Heyday has received in less than a full year of business really comes as no surprise. The self-branded facial shop has brought the skincare regimen to modern times with Millennial-friendly features — a simplified menu (and prices), flexible hours, and a sleek booking app —at the Nomad flagship, and now its founders are doubling up downtown. First up is a three-station, six-week pop-up within Tenoverten's Financial District salon that officially opens next week.

"They're so like-minded," Adam Ross, Heyday's co-founder and CEO, said of the ethical nail salon over a recent chat. "They have a similar demographic and DNA [to us] with ingredients, attention to customer service, and design detail that overlaps with ours."

"They even play so many of the same songs on their playlist as we do!" chimed in fellow co-founder and chief brand officer Michael Pollak. "It's like a sister brand in a lot of ways."

Beyond musical tastes, Pollak also touched upon the similar work cultures that both brands have built. "They have created a beautiful, wonderful facility for their employees," he said, adding that founders Nadine Abramcyk and Adair Ilyinsky had nothing to hide when the New York Times nail salon exposé unfolded last year. "And for us, we're building a home for skin therapists to emerge from the spas where they were like second fiddle to massage therapists and creating an environment where the practice of skin therapy can actually thrive."

So can you get your nails painted and blackheads extracted at the same time? Right now, they're only offered separately, but "We'll see how week one and two go," said Pollak. "Right now, the plan is just for us to live together under one roof for six weeks...[but] maybe in the future we'll open up next to each other and, like, share a washing machine. That's a smart business opportunity."

The pop-up itself — which includes a smaller version of the retail store that fronts the service stations in Nomad — is already a smart play for Heyday. It'll be introducing itself to the downtown crowd ahead of a permanent Tribeca shop debuting in the summer. Coincidentally, it's just down the block from Tenoverten's Reade Street location.

"[The pop-up] is a chance for us to seed ourselves in that neighborhood and meet some new clients and faces in the area. Faces, especially," Pollak said, before quickly clarifying: "That pun was not intended!"