The unemployment rate on Friday ticked up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in December, but no one is blaming Jennifer Blaz.
She’s not only been helping manage the economy, she’s been helping massage it back to health. At last count, she’s has 79 massage therapists, beauticians and aestheticians on her payroll. They work at either her Massage Envy studio in La Verne or her beautiful new spa in the Glendora Marketplace in Glendora, Calif.
“Actually, we’re struggling to hire more therapists,” Blaz said
That’s, in part, due to Massage Envy’s convenient hours. They stay open until 10 p.m., Monday through Friday and until 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Another reason is Massage Envy’s affordable range of services, which includes Swedish, deep-tissue, sports and pre-natal massages and four different facial treatments.
Indeed, Blaz has made luxury affordable.
Massage Envy members pay $59 for a one-hour massage session. An additional massage that same month is only $39. If the massage session goes unused, the session simply rolls over to the next month.
Other family members can join the same wellness plan for $49 a month.
Blaz had originally planned to open her first Massage Envy in Glendora five years ago, but city officials resisted her early initiatives. She suspects that there was still a stigma attached to the word “massage.”
So she turned to La Verne.
“La Verne was amazing,” Blaz said. “Chief [Scott] Pickwith made it a breeze to go through the system.”
In La Verne, Blaz has built up a terrific business by offering a panoply of therapeutic services and playing an active service role in the community.
When she called on Glendora officials a second time, they embraced her with open arms.
“We’re all about service and affordability and convenience,” Blaz said. “We’re in nice big centers with anchor stores. We’re not part of some strip mall in an industrial section of town.”
Far from it, actually. Her new Glendora facility, designed by Tom Nguyen, sparkles and shimmers. A spacious lobby and elegant reception staff welcomes visitors. In addition to a facial room off the lobby, there are 14 other therapy rooms and a “quiet” room to decompress.
Although Blaz is the mother of four, you would never know it. Her staff and general manager, Yvette Bowers, help keep her calm.
In fact, things are running so smoothly, her staff and customers are now asking her whether there could be a third and fourth Massage Envy studio in her future.
She laughs off the question the way Hillary Clinton deftly does when she’s asked whether she is going to run for President in 2016.
“I learned a long time ago to say, “’Never say never.’”
If you’d like to ask her yourself, you can find her at 1369 Foothill in La Verne or 1343 E. Gladstone, #101 in Glendora.
Or you could slip back and enjoy a great massage or facial and forget about the world for an hour or two.
For more information, call 909-596-3689 in La Verne or (909) 267-7515 in Glendora.
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