R. J. Julia Spa Night Part Of Effort To Redefine Store, Cement Its Position As Essential "Third Place" In Community

You work hard, you take care of your kids, you try to have a life. Perhaps you even made a New Year's resolution to do more for yourself, and that has already gone by the wayside.

Ladies, Roxanne Coady is here for you.

Her store R. J. Julia, which is already a local oasis for book lovers and foodies, will host an in-store spa night Thursday, Jan. 27th. The event, the first of its kind for the Madison bookstore, will take place from 7 to 9 p.m.

Coady says the spa night is designed for women who start each new year with a renewed commitment to self improvement. Coady says this is just one of a number of events aimed at enriching the lives of the Madison-area residents. There will be a literary tie-in to the event; Coady will talk about the books and tapes that she finds relaxing and inspiring, and that should help the attendees achieve their personal goals.

Spa night part of new effort to redefine store as center of community

One of Coady's goals is to redefine the role of R. J. Julia in the community, and the spa night is part of that plan. She said the way people read, and conduct their lives, is changing rapidly in an increasingly digitized and fast-paced world. By “tying R. J. Julia into fun things to do and then relating that to reading,” Coady hopes to cement the store's reputation as a “center of the community.”

That will come as no surprise to store regulars, many of whom already consider the store an informal community center. With its engaged and friendly staff, many of whom live in town or nearby, personal handwritten book recommendations tucked into the shelves, cozy seating, and an adjacent cafe that serves both healthy and decadent food, the store already is a sort of "third place" in town.

Third place is a term coined by author Ray Oldenburg in his book, The Great Good Place. Home is the first place, work is the second. Places like R. J. Julia--public spaces where people can meet formally or informally, stopping by when they have time to see who they might run in to--are considered essential to the health of a community and even to democracy itself.

Bookstore's staff does a whole lot more than read

The idea for the spa night was hatched when Coady began appearing on television more frequently. The bookstore’s marketing manager, Maureen Sullivan, asked Coady who was doing her makeup before each televised event; when Coady replied that she was applying her own makeup, Sullivan offered her professional services.

After that exchange, Coady thought other women would be interested in learning the tricks of the trade and how to better apply their own makeup. In addition to her position at R. J. Julia, Sullivan works on the side as a freelance makeup artist. She was previously employed for many years as a makeup artist with MAC, a major cosmetics company, where she frequently worked on fashion shows, Broadway shows, and weddings.

Coady later learned that one of the event managers at R. J. Julia, Lisa Ann Kennally, has her own beauty-related side project: a line of all-natural skin and body care products that she markets under the name “Lisa Ann Skincare.”

Addressing dark under-eye circles will be a priority

Kennally sells her line in day spas and to local customers; she also creates a private-label seasonal line of products and lotions for the Norwich Inn and Spa. And, her chocolate-based products can be found at Given Chocolate in Madison.

During the spa night, Coady will set up stations all around the bookstore; Kennally and Sullivan will be doing makeup and skincare demonstrations approximately every fifteen minutes. Sullivan plans to cover the fundamentals of makeup application: she says that she is “always being asked how to cover up dark under-eye circles and how to do a smoky eye.”

For the makeup demonstrations, Sullivan will use a variety of department store makeup lines, including but not limited to MAC cosmetics. Kennally will have samples of all her products and will talk to attendees about the benefits of natural skin products.

Pilates, Zumba, and T'ai Chi too, all free of charge

Coady also plans to have speakers from Pilates, Zumba, and T’ai Chi backgrounds speak about their respective practices and the relative benefits of each form of exercise. More than 60 women have reserved tickets for the event; Coady expects that approximately 100 women will attend. Tickets to attend “Spa Night” are free of charge.

To find out more about third places and why they are essential to the life of a community, read this article by The Project for Public Spaces on Ray Oldenburg and The Great Good Place.

Want to read more? Go to the R. J. Julia website and order some of Oldenburg's books. Recent works include

• Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories About the Great Good Places at the Heart of Our Communities

• The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community