Best friends, Sumter natives co-open new spa

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They have quite a following, and now they have ventured out on their own.

Stephanie Roupe and her best friend, Ariel Hall, recently opened a beauty and personal care business called 8:28 on West Liberty Street.

Roupe attended Southeastern Esthetics Institute and is a licensed esthetician, specializing in skincare and hair removal, and Hall is a licensed massage therapist who attended Central Carolina Technical College's massage therapy program.

The duo, both Sumter natives, had worked together in another spa in town for the last five years and now consider it a "dream come true" to open their own business.

As an esthetician, Roupe said, she offers "cultural treatments" generally used only in other parts of the world and that no one else in Sumter has. Those include threading and sugaring, which is a hair-removal process using a sugar paste.

Roupe and Spa 8:28 also provide epidermal imperfection removals to include skin tags, broken capillaries and other advanced treatments.

"One of the facials I have that is very popular is what my clients like to call the 'Botox facial,'" Roupe said. "We treat half of the face and compare, and it's like an immediate face-lift."

She also tries to continually grow in her skills and bring in new technologies for treatments, she said.

Both Roupe and Hall have brought all their clients with them to their new location and are generally booked about four weeks out, Roupe said.

Full-body contouring is also a service treatment that is new to the area.

Hall is especially known for a deep tissue massage, she said, and also does a therapeutic massage, Swedish massage, trigger point therapy massage and a prenatal massage.

The business name, Spa 8:28, comes from Romans 8:28 from the Bible where the apostle Paul writes "and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Roupe said one of her teachers gave her that verse when she was 13 years old and going through a difficult time.

"The teacher told me that if in any time in life I ever have doubts or am struggling that God is always there for me," Roupe said. "They opened the Bible and wrote this verse down on a sticky pad and gave it to me and told me to always refer back to it. And, I have. I actually have this Bible verse on a plaque, and I have it on our business cards, as well."