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TriBeCa Salon Offers iPads with Manicures

By Julie Shapiro | December 13, 2010 6:37am

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

TRIBECA — A new TriBeCa nail salon is using an unusual perk to attract customers: iPads.

Fifteen of the compulsively touchable mini-computers adorn the manicure and pedicure stations at the new salon, called tenoverten (or ten over ten, a riff on the number of fingers and toes). The idea, co-owner Nadine Ferber said, was to give the clients something fun, and potentially useful, to do while they get their nails done.

"Instead of reading magazines that have gotten wet a hundred times, you can browse the Internet," Ferber said. "People are so excited."

Tenoverten will officially launch next Wednesday on the second floor of the landmarked Delphi building and recently opened quietly for friends and family of the owners.

Ferber, who also owns the West Village boutique Mick Margo, dreamed up the salon during a conversation with Adair Ilyinsky, a financial analyst. The two TriBeCa residents were frustrated by the sterile, impersonal vibes of other nail salons in the area and thought they could do better.

"We felt like there was nothing out there in terms of service and cleanliness," Ferber said. "We wanted it to feel like you were actually in someone’s home."

With that in mind, there are no oversized vibrating pedicure chairs or ultraviolet drying machines at tenoverten. Instead, the light-filled, 1,500-square-foot space at Reade Street and W. Broadway features custom furniture, hand-painted canvas walls and a barn door salvaged from upstate New York.

All the chairs and tables are movable, so tenoverten can moonlight as an event space for baby showers and birthdays. A bit of the party may spill over into the daytime, as the salon plans to offer champagne and other drinks to clients.

The simple menu of services includes a $20 signature manicure and $35 signature pedicure, both of which include moisturizing massages, along with an array of waxing choices. The salon does not offer any gel or artificial nails and continues the natural theme with a selection of chemical-free RGB polishes, plus Chanel and other brands.

Ferber, 32, and Ilyinsky, 29, also took pains to make the experience easier for busy downtown residents. Clients can book appointments online and pay (and tip) online by credit card.

The ground-floor space beneath tenoverten has been empty since the popular Delphi Greek restaurant shuttered in 2007, but that’s about to change as well: Matt Abramcyk, Ferber’s husband, plans to open a 100-seat Latin-American bistro under the salon sometime next year.

Abramcyk won approval from the city Landmarks Preservation Commission in September for extensive renovations to the historic structure.

Tenoverten, at 112 Reade St., will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday starting Dec. 15.