The Hamptons have long been synonymous with luxury, leisure, and seasonal escape. But two creative powerhouses, Amanda Usher and Molly Eldred, are adding a “one-stop oasis” for wellness, beauty, and brand experience. Located in a reimagined Montauk property, OMAYO is a newly created space where locals and visitors alike can shop, sweat, get styled, and connect.
Eldred, a co-founder, shared the story of OMAYO, which began unexpectedly with a pedicure.
“I have this little thing in Puerto Rico called the ‘Bougie Girls Club,’” Eldred said. “Once a month, I bring my girlfriends over [and] we do mani-pedis, facials, massages, we get a chef, we’re all in our robes, we watch a movie because there’s no central location to do that in San Juan.”
As a resident of Puerto Rico, Eldred further explained that when her significant other came to visit, she invited him to indulge in her girls’ club. Once he experienced his first pedicure, he was sold. As a worker in luxury construction, he knew the perfect building to create this project.
“He was so blown away. He said, ‘We need this in Montauk,’” Eldred laughed. “He had a building, and I had a vision — so the first person I called was Amanda.”
From that moment, OMAYO evolved into a multi-layered concept — a boutique-meets-wellness-hub designed to host seasonal retail and pop-ups by emerging and established brands. From a week to a month, brands are free to be a part of OMAYO and promote their products while offering the Montauk community a unique experience.
“OMAYO means ‘beautiful blessings,’ which really felt fitting,” Usher, a co-founder and a professional in marketing, said. “It really is about giving brands that footprint so that they can have a space to create [special moments with influencers], but then also be able to give to the local community.”
Eldred emphasized that a key feature of this luxurious studio is that there is always something new in store.
“We’ll be bringing different brands in throughout the season, so there’s always something fresh, there’s always something new that’s going to be happening, and that’s really focused for the local community,” she said.
While Montauk is known for nautical blues and whitewashed wood, OMAYO dares to be different. Inspired by sunsets, the studio is covered in warm oranges and golden hues, with interiors curated by the head of decor of East Hampton’s favorite boutique, Clic.
“I want it to feel like an oasis. I want it to be vastly different from what exists.,” Eldred said. “And
[Amanda] said we should capture the sunset with oranges as our color. There’s nothing [else] like it.”
Downstairs, OMAYO offers a wellness space where clients can do yoga, pilates, stretch, and breathwork, among a few things. Not only does OMAYO offer a space for physical self-care, but it offers a retail section, filled with products by brands they collaborate with. Behind the retail area there will be a private room in collaboration with HigherDOSE. The room will include saunas and the brand’s newest technologies, such as pulsed electromagnetic field mats and red light masks.
The upstairs will provide customers with an experiential beauty lounge where brands like Pickle, an influencer styling collective, offer makeovers, massages, IV drips, and more.
“The furniture is getting donated in a showroom style. So, everything down to the lamp will be for sale,” Eldred said. “And that’s partnering with local designers [and] emerging designers. Everyone’s kind of getting that opportunity to showcase and use OMAYO, as you know, their home.”
With experience in marketing, branding, and events, Usher and Eldred add both style and expertise to OMAYO. Usher detailed that while working in experiential marketing for over a decade, many events hosted by brands typically happen as a one-time event, but OMAYO moves away from that and allows brands to decide how long they’d like to be part of their space.
“A lot of times when I do an event, it’s really just a one-time thing,” Usher said. “I think my experience and Molly’s in community building really make it so that we can take the one day and build it so much larger and way more special.”
OMAYO is currently open through at least early fall and there are already hopes of expansion. Usher and Eldred mentioned hopes of one in Aspen or Miami as well as potentially expanding to the holiday season.
“We were asked about Aspen or Miami, and if this season goes well, we definitely plan to come back next year for Hamptons and potentially expand this business model and this brand,” Eldred shared.
As for what guests should walk away feeling? Usher sums it up best:
“Pampered, like they just got to take care of themselves and pamper themselves. So, either like you had that moment where [you] got to take some time for [yourself], get a little workout in, destress, zen, or sweat it out, or just pick up that perfect new workout outfit.”
