After 37 years, owners of popular Kennewick spa and salon head into ‘re-wirement’

Vonda and Greg Smith, the entrepreneurs behind one of the first coffee chains in the Tri-Cities and later, a luxury spa, have sold their final business and thrown themselves into “re-wirement.”

The Smiths sold Z Place Salon and Spa to longtime stylist, Kayla Muzzy, and business partner Jessica Bernsen, who worked for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in communications.

Vonda Smith was a veteran of the salon industry, having opened her first in 1978. She and her husband opened Z Place in 1987 in the Marinel and Village in Kennewick, eventually moving to the Southridge location near Canyon Lakes in 2010.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the deal includes the business as well as the Z Place Salon building at 3600 S. Zintel Way, Kennewick.

Bernson said the duo decided to team up, in part, because their husbands have done deals in the past. Kayla brings a long history with Z Place to the venture, while Jessica lends help with the business side.

She said the idea is to keep everything similar to how the Smiths ran the business for decades.

Z place employs 10 stylists, three aestheticians and two massage therapists and is looking to expand its payroll, she said.

The Smiths released a statement that they were delighted to “pass the torch” and were confident Z Place will thrive with their energy and experience.

The Smiths are well-known Tri-Cities entrepreneurs known as much for bringing espresso to the community as for pioneering the high-end salon near Canyon Lakes.

The established Espresso World in Kennewick in 1993, well before Starbucks opened its first local location.

Their first shop was near West Clearwater Avenue and Columbia Center Boulevard and briefly added locations in Pasco and Richland.

The latter two were sold in around 2009. The Kennewick Espresso World closed “without fanfare” in February 2015, according to Tri-City Herald archives.

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