SHOPPING THE YEARS AWAY LOOKING FOR YOUTH, CONSUMERS HIT THE MALL FOR NEW STYLES IN FACIAL PEELS OR INJECTIONS.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

Shoppers expect certain things at the mall - some clothing shops, a shoe store, a cookie counter, maybe a movie theater. Most don't plan on getting Botoxed along with buying bath towels.

But for those who absolutely need everything under one roof, shoppers can now find their hair removal, fat burning and chemical peels not far from the food court. Nuvo International Laser Skin Centers, after establishing itself in the Pacific Northwest, has begun a push into Southern California shopping centers as part of a nationwide expansion. In the midst of an exploding national interest in cosmetic procedures, the chief executive officer, Jeff Schmidt, expects to turn his 32 West Coast locations into 50 by year's end. Next up will be a spot at Westfield Shoppingtown Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks, slated for a September opening, part of a plan to open 29 centers in Southern California in coming years.

Schmidt hopes the centers, where easy-listening music soothes while laser lights blast off unwanted skin, will appeal to time-starved shoppers looking to maximize their shopping trip.

``She's at the mall. She's got other things to do,'' he said rhetorically, gesturing toward an imagined shopper. ``Then, on the way out, she can stop by and get her Botox or collagen.''

With her teenage kids off shopping for themselves at The Oaks regional shopping center in Thousand Oaks, Jacqueline Pick of Westlake Village dropped in for a quick hair-removal treatment at the recently opened store. She was in and out in less than half an hour, glowing with a smile and the sheen of recent treatment.

``Anything to look younger,'' Pick, a chiropractor, said. ``I came here with my kids to do some shopping and thought this is great; I've got to do this.''

Harried women looking to laser off their extra hair, remove their wrinkles and rejuvenate their skin are only part of the equation. Schmidt says a fair number of men come in to get their age lines smoothed with a little Botox and their hirsute backs lasered clean. In the next few months, he hopes to add a laser fat-removal machine, as well.

``The technology just gets better and better,'' he marveled. ``In a few years, you'll be able to walk in with a Big Mac in your hand while they're zapping the fat right off.''

At the moment, Nuvo's various technological offerings are enough to bring in $60 million in annual sales, with each store doing between $1.5 million and $2 million per year and a profit margin of 30 percent. Schmidt hopes to take the company public in a few years to provide the funds to stretch the chain across the country.

``Now all the TV shows are portraying cosmetic surgery as something for everyone,'' said Dr. Marc Kerner, an assistant professor of facial plastic surgery at UCLA Medical Center and a practicing plastic surgeon in Encino. ``There's no taboo associated with things like Botox, so it makes sense to take it out of the doctor's office and right to the consumer.''

Though he agreed with the marketing concept, Kerner raised concerns about performing medical procedures in a mall, rather than a doctor's office. Though doctors supervise the stores, staffed by nurses and aestheticians, they're not always on hand while patients come in for procedures.

``If you have specific concerns, you should get an evaluation from someone who's been trained and has a full toolbox - at least as a starting point - rather than just going to the mall and trying different procedures out,'' said Dr. James Bradley, chief of pediatric plastic surgery and an associate professor of surgery, also at UCLA. ``When you talk about injecting things, paralyzing muscles with Botox, there are risks.''

Schmidt's selling point isn't to replace doctors, but to provide another option for those interested in the popular procedures. Given the increasingly cosmetic-centric nature of the nation, he thinks he'll have no shortage of clients in coming years.

``This mall thrives off women wanting to remove wrinkles,'' he said. ``I don't think there's ever going to be a time when a 40-year-old woman looks in the mirror and says, `I'm happy with these wrinkles; I'm happy with this hair on my upper lip.'''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Jacqueline Pick of Westlake Village gets a laser facial treatment at The Oaks mall while her teenage kids shop.

(2) Registered nurse-technician Lana Miller gives Jacqueline Pick a laser facial treatment.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) -- Jeff Schmidt

Chief executive officer of Nuvo International Laser Skin Centers