Day spa finally finds home

Owner of Abba had been trying to open her own spa for eight years

By Anthony Roberts

The Sherwood Gazette, Nov 29, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Anthony Roberts / The Gazette

Sisters Jayde McBride and Mandy Mason named their new spa Abba, which translates to “the father.” The spa will donate a portion of profits to charitable causes.

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Jayde McBride had given up on opening her own day spa.

In five years of trying, she'd had so many opportunities and close calls fall through - including one just weeks before opening - that she decided to stop looking.

So when her husband called about the little home on Langer Drive in Sherwood, she refused to look. Her younger sister Mandy Mason, who would be her business partner, scouted the location out instead.

Within two months, the sisters celebrated the opening of Abba Day Spa in October. The sisters are religious - 10 percent of their profit will benefit charitable causes - and McBride said she couldn't help but notice the sign in front of the house when she finally went to look at it. The space at 16455 SW Langer had been a church office, and the board out front read: "If you're looking for a sign from God, this could be it," McBride said. "I thought, what is this, a coincidence?"

The building, which was at one point a house, had been up for lease for about two weeks, but the sign had fallen out of the window, and was just put back in place.

McBride said the size and the location were ideal. She lives in Tualatin and had been looking at locations in the western suburbs, and the small house is a unique environment, as opposed to a strip mall location. "Structurally, the building was what we needed," McBride said.

The problem was the interior. The old home had been an office for decades, and the interior was dated and stuffy, leading a few friends who saw the house to question her decision.

Luckily, McBride's husband is a contractor, and after five weeks of painting, ripping up carpet, installing spa equipment and decorating, the interior was set.

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