Boomers Mean Business

Boomers propelled skin care into a billion dollar industry. Lisa Price founded Carol’s Daughter in her Brooklyn kitchen in 1994. — Naomi Harris

Looking Great

If this is in fact the entitled generation, one thing boomers feel entitled to is looking young. The U.S. market for anti-aging skin care products and services hit $1.8 billion in 2009 and is growing at double-digit rates.

Lisa Price took advantage of this trend. In the early 1990s, Price began experimenting with creams, lotions and oils in her Brooklyn kitchen. "Fragrance was my passion," says Price, 48.

With no experience but plenty of savvy, she mixed all-natural ingredients to create products like Hair Milk and Lemon Ginger Mint Manicure, selling them at flea markets. In 1994, Price established Carol's Daughter — named after her mother. Today the company earns more than $30 million in annual retail sales.

Boomers love teams of advisers, says San Francisco boomer marketer Mary Furlong, "from personal trainers to Pilates instructors to nutritionists, to help them stay in the game." Spas for women are a $12.3 billion-a-year industry, while the number of health clubs, YMCAs and neighborhood gyms has doubled in a decade to nearly 30,000. Adults 55-plus are the fastest-growing segment of health club membership, up from 8 million in 2005 to 10.3 million in 2009.

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