Since opening in downtown Fayetteville a little over a year ago, 12-year-old business owner, published author and pageant professional Zoe Noelle Whitehead has seen her idea for a kid-focused spa not only become a reality, but become a set space for children of all ages to come and relax and be catered to.

Zoë Noelle’s Princess Spa, LLC officially launched on June 21, 2023 at 321 Hay Street in downtown Fayetteville. Offering salon services such as manicures, pedicures, facials and more for both children and adults, the spa is able to provide the ultimate princess package to pamper and spoil their guests. Zoe herself has been getting her nails done for a decade and wanted to provide kids with a kid-friendly experience. 

“I wanted to make a spa for kids because when I was younger, I used to go to a spa and I noticed that there weren't that many spas here specifically for kids. A lot of the spas didn't allow kids to come in. So I decided to make a spa just for kids because I want them to be able to experience that,” shared Zoe. “Something I knew for sure that I wanted to include was definitely the color pink because pink is my favorite color. I know that a lot of girls like pink, so I wanted to make sure to include [it] into my spa so it could be their happy place.” 

Over the past year Zoe has been working the front desk in her spare time, greeting her customers and watching her business grow. She says that her experiences with pageants over the past three years have provided her with transferable skills that she uses as a business owner. 

“I can definitely say that the interview [portion] has helped me a lot,” shared Zoe. “Being able to talk to other people has become a lot easier for me now that I’ve been doing pageants for a very long time. Because in pageants, you get to socialize with a lot of people and not only that, but the judges were really nice, so I feel more comfortable speaking to adults.” 

Working alongside Zoe on the back end of things, her mother Dr. Shenae Whitehead continues to guide the map towards additional growth. Dr. Whitehead provides funding, orders in inventory and coordinates events throughout the community along with the spa’s management and staff. 

That teamwork has led to the opportunity to expand in down town Fayetteville by acquiring a new 5,000-square-foot location. The former Veterans Lending Group Building, located at 159 Maxwell St., will soon be a full party and event space for guests of the spa. 

This will be a huge addition to the current 900-square-foot space on Hay Street and will provide more privacy for guests and their special events. This will also allow the team to expand the party selections they currently offer to include a red carpet experience, tea parties, the ever popular spa parties and more.

“Zoe’s thing is that she’s big on luxury and having kids feel special, almost like mini celebrities. So that was our vision for the party event space and then of course, adults can rent it out too, for conferences, baby showers and things like that. We want to respect the historic nature of the building.” shared Dr. Whitehead. 

Dr. Whitehead also shared that a second Zoë Noelle’s Princess Spa location is in the works and is planned for the Raeford area, in the Midway Plaza off of Fayetteville Road. Construction has begun and plans have been made to continue to personalize the spa for kids. 

“It’s going to be the same concept. The only thing we think is cool is that we're kind of building into it and we can take our time. That one will have the kiddie-sized pedicure bowl chairs, so that is a difference there. So it'll be more like the adult experience but for the littles. The same kind of concept and decor, we might make that one a little more purple,” shared Dr. Whitehead. 

Both of those locations are expected to open in late 2024 but for now, Zoe’s dream business is becoming more and more real. 

“I would like to franchise it and put it all around our state. And hope fully I can put my business in other states too. I would really like to see my business grow, so that’s something I’m really looking forward to,” concluded Zoe.