Groupon, Living Social & Online Deals:

I am a firm believer that offering promotions through Groupon, Living Social or other online deal sites is not only bad for business, it’s bad for our sustainability as a local, community-oriented wellness center. And that's bad for you.

I love a good deal. I'd buy Groupons for my local grocers, yoga studios and restaurants. But when I first inquired about offering a "massage deal," I was told that I had to discount my massages by 50%. And then the deal company takes 50% of that.

Um, what?

Let's do the math. If I discount Elm City Wellness's massages by 50% that means our $90 massage performed by either me or one of my highly skilled, licensed therapists is $45. But then the deal company takes $20, leaving Elm City Wellness with $25. And if Elm City Wellness splits that with the therapist so that we can both pay our rents, utilities, etc., we each get $12.50. For giving a massage.

That, to me, is not fair. My therapists are worth more than that. Much, much more. Elm City Wellness is worth more than that, too. What gives us immeasurable happiness – what we live for – is taking care of you. It’s in our hearts and souls, which is why we’re therapists. But if we devalue our work, we’re devaluing your loyalty and trust in us. And we will NEVER do that.

We’re building our business from personal relationships with you and the people you refer to us in our community. And people in our community talk – to each other, online and offline, to their customers, employers, colleagues, classmates, family and friends. We treat everyone with equality and fairness. It’s a simple concept, but some businesses forget this in hopes of gaining greater exposure.

These deal companies do give businesses exposure, but that’s not always a good thing. I’ve heard of too many companies struggling with negative online reviews affecting their business because they couldn’t handle the influx of coupon redeemers – and their service suffered because of it. Elm City Wellness’s service, which revolves around how we take care of you, is all that matters. And as the owner and one of the therapists of this company, I refuse to risk endangering that.

We work just as hard for our new customers as we do for those of you who have been with us from the beginning. Elm City Wellness values your well being. And to do that, we have to value ours. And if you’ve had a session with us, you know that. If you haven’t, we’d love to get you on the table.

And don’t worry. We still offer specials. But in a way that is fair to my therapists and fair to our business. If you’d like to get on our mailing list, please fill out the form below and we’ll keep you posted on our in-house deals!

Thank you,
Marissa Gandelman, LMT
Owner, Elm City Wellness