After a year and a half of success in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, HAVN Saunas is planning an expansion into Vancouver’s wellness market.
The sauna in Victoria is located on a barge that was retrofitted to become an Scandinavian spa oasis from its origins as an American Navy vessel, built in 1943.
Well, as luck would have it, HAVN’s CEO, Nick Van Buren found an exact carbon copy of the vessel that houses Victoria’s sauna barge, and plans on using it to bring the same experiences to people in Vancouver.
It turns out the same person Van Buren acquired the first barge from on West Cracroft Island in the Broughton Archipelago had been holding onto the replica the whole time.
“I went and measured it, it’s exactly the same, like they made them on the lot the same year,” Van Buren told Victoria Buzz.
“It’s pretty wild how similar it is. It’s like they made two sets of parts at the same time and one went to the left drydock and the other went to the right drydock.”
Even though the vessels are exactly the same, Van Buren has some new ideas for the second iteration of the sauna barge Victorians know and love.
He says that in his second crack at designing this, with the same parameters, he plans on making the spa boat three levels instead of just two.
“The new design is going to be new and improved and customized,” Van Buren explained.
“The new one, you’re going to come into reception and then go down a floor, change rooms will be down on that floor and then the whole main floor will be like steams and hammam, kind of classic bathing experience.”
He added that he will still incorporate a lounge on that level as well as some new “funky” ideas, then up top, the same Scandinavian spa feel will remain, but with more hot tubs and better allocation of space.
“All the things that we’ve learned from Victoria, which is great, but we are like, ‘oh, I wish we could have done this,’” he said.
He says that not only will these changes ramp up the user’s experience, but it will also help them get more people into the space daily, where currently they simply can’t keep up with Victoria’s demand.
With the space they have, they only allow 30 customers in at a time, so that it doesn’t feel crowded and contributes to a positive experience.
With the plans that are being drafted for a HAVN location in Vancouver, Van Buren says if they take advantage of their square footage better on this go, they will be able to get more people in, without impacting the quality of the customer’s visit.
Currently, the sister barge to Victoria’s HAVN is still up in the Broughton Archipelago, near Port McNeill where some initial work will take place before it is brought down to Victoria.
Then Van Buren plans on bringing on the same crew comprised of friends and local contractors who worked on the first HAVN iteration to complete the work on this sister barge.
As that happens, he is already looking at potential locations in Vancouver, which he cannot reveal at this time.
Van Buren says that through building HAVN up from sea level, he has reflected and learned a lot about what this business is all about.
“Something that we’ve kind of realized is that we are just in the business of facilitating comfortable environments for people to relax and connect with each other,” he explained.
“Because originally, we really thought we were in the sauna business, and then we found ourselves in the healthy third-space business.”
He continued by saying that he believes HAVN adds to the community in the same ways as people’s favourite brewery, restaurant and coffee shop. It’s a place that people go to for a purpose to find joy, relaxation and connection.
“That’s what gives life to a city. That’s what keeps me going,” Van Buren concluded.
More to come on the future of HAVN Saunas’ latest venture as it comes.
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