Mercer Village business changes again

Mercer Village is a place where students can get away from their studies. It offers a variety of restaurants such as Margarita’s, Jittery Joes, Francar’s, Fountain of Juice and Ingleside Village Pizza.  These businesses have seen success because they offer what students want most: food.  Now try to think of the other businesses in the Village. The bookstore is the pillar, with the tanning salon and spa being afterthoughts.  They do not seem to fit within the theme of a college village. Their services are not in over demand.
My freshman year there was a bike store located where the William and Alexander Salon and Spa currently is. The store did not do well, and was taken over by Rodeo Beach.  After some time the bike portion of the store was removed and not long after Rodeo Beach closed down. I believe this happened because the store did not offer what the majority of the Mercer student body wanted.  Yes, it was a cool store and had some good items in stock, but nothing that the student body really wanted.  Another reason I believe they failed is because most students do not have a disposable income to dedicate to anything besides food or school related supplies.The reason the restaurants do so well in the Village is because they offer affordable food for Mercer students and local residents. But primarily their customers are based at the college.
These students crave for a change from what they can easily get in the cafeteria or the UC. The restaurants offer inexpensive food or drink over most of the day and at a good price. They serve as a hang out spot, a meeting point, study area, and a place to escape. The idea of having a Spa or tanning salon may look good on paper, but how often will they have patrons?
Most Mercer students would just go home to do their shopping, tanning, or visit a salon. The idea of having a spa after a rough test is tempting, but who has the time or money? Instead, Mercer Village should have done a poll on what type of business should have taken over Rodeo Beach’s lot.
Personally, I wanted a frozen yogurt shop.  A frozen yogurt shop would have instantly benefited from the patronage of the student body but also the surrounding schools.  Local frozen yogurt places, such as Tutti Frutti and La Berry, are only 15-20 minutes away but still completely inaccessible to those without a car. Having a business such as that in the Village would be much better suited than a spa. There could have been a few extra jobs for some students with the opening of a frozen yogurt shop. 
The spa does not offer that, only trained employees have the option to work there.  Because who wants to get their haircut by the person you sat next to in FYS? Overall I do not see the spa lasting long and I am frankly surprised the tanning salon is still open. The services they offer are nice, but just not what I believe the student body wants. Perhaps there was little Mercer could do to influence what shop ended up there, and I am sure they do not wish to hold onto an empty space for long.
But out of anything that could have gone there, a spa? Only time will truly tell if the spa has a real place in the Village or whether or not it too will collapse as its predecessors did.