Welcome to the Darque Side

As she stands behind the counter, she looks like the stereotypical tanning salon manager, long blonde hair shimming from the sun coming through the window, tight bronzed skin, and eyes that could convince someone to buy almost anything. She is trying to make a sale when I walk in, but to an outsider it looks like two friends talking. Her bubbly personality and likeability appeal to the tanners of San Marcos. It is obvious that she is good at her job.
Darque Tan just opened its first San Marcos salon and Stacie Sigel is the new manager. However, it wasn’t easy to make it to where she is today.
Sigel is a small town girl with a big city attitude. She started working for a Darque Tan salon outside of San Antonio last year. She was still living at home with her mom and work was the escape that she needed. When it came time for Sigel to move to San Marcos to attend Texas State University, she kept her fingers crossed that there was a Darque Tan close by. Unfortunately, Sigel’s only options were to drive to Austin or San Antonio to keep working for the same company. Since the Austin salons were a bit closer, she chose them over the San Antonio location she had come to love.
Sigel started school, taking 15 hours of classes and still maintaining her 40-hour work schedule. She says that mixing school and work is not always easy and that often she is “not always the most studious person when it comes down to an either/or situation.” Fortunately, Sigel is one of those people most students are jealous of. Studies come easy for her and she doesn’t have to put much effort into keeping her grades up.
Although Sigel had found a balance between school and working in Austin, the gas prices were making her long drive to work not so pleasant. “The drive to and from Austin almost every day was so draining on my time, my sleep, and my life in general. It finally reached a point where enough was enough and I either had to make this happen or leave the company,” said Sigel. This was the drive that fueled Sigel to actively seek out a place to lease in San Marcos. Her goal was to find something within walking distance from campus to appeal to dorm residents and so students could tan on their breaks between classes. After months of searching, she found her dream at 316 N. Edward Gary Street.
The location had once been another tanning salon, Image Sun. Luckily for Sigel that meant that all the right electrical lines and cables had already been put in place. The owner of Image Sun had abandoned her lease and left the landlord in a bit of a bind. Darque Tan was quick to seize the property and begin the transformation of Image Sun. Within just a few weeks, Darque Tan opened its first salon in San Marcos.
With this opening, Sigel was named manager of the store. She had some of the highest sales records at the Austin locations and had a superb record with the company. It just made sense for her to step up and take the managerial position. She couldn’t have been more pleased. Her responsibilities have increased with the new salon opening, but it’s a change that Sigel welcomes. She quickly hired a new Darque Tan team and started promoting the opening of the salon. The doors to Darque Tan opened with great success. While there is still remodeling to be done, Darque Tan is on it’s way to becoming the most successful tanning salon in San Marcos.
Sigel has said that her goal for the San Marcos Darque Tan is, “to put Great Tans out of business. They're the only thing that can even be considered real competition here, and with Darque Tan's great pricing and options, I know we can own this market.” Sigel continues to emphasize that Darque Tan really puts its customers first, and says that is what will make the difference in sales.
Sigel has great plans for promoting the salon in San Marcos. “We want to do a Miss Darque Tan San Marcos,” says Sigel. “This will be a several week-long series of bikini competitions and the top three contestants will become part of the promo crew, along with receiving some great prizes. We're working with several bars here to do a weekly bar crawl to increase awareness of the company, and a few pool parties sponsored by Darque Tan are in the works, once it warms up a bit.”
Darque Tan will continue to thrive here in San Marcos and it’s because of one person’s perseverance and passion. Sigel can be found behind the counter of Darque Tan, and if you get the chance to meet her, thank her for what she has done for the tanners of San Marcos.