There is now an openness toward utilizing alternative healing options beyond big pharma to find relief for health issues such as chronic pain, anxiety, stress, insomnia and muscle soreness. There are many people who are expressing hesitancy and mistrust with adhering to the traditional medical and pharmaceutical remedies for their various ailments. This has resulted in a recent burst of strong real estate growth for cutting-edge holistic wellness brands that offer services such as cryotherapy, infrared sauna relaxation and flotation aquatherapy. In addition, more and more Americans are choosing to spend their time, energy and money on improving themselves and their wellbeing, including utilizing services that provide meditative peace and relaxation. Be on the lookout for Restore Hyper Wellness & Cryotherapy, Perspire Sauna Studio, SweatHouz and True Rest Float Spa to all have aggressive expansion goals in the coming years.
Preferred spaces for these alternative healing service brands run the gamut, from power centers, lifestyle centers, strip malls, ground floors of mixed-use buildings and street-front retail, in higher end communities with a large number of health-minded individuals. Ideal co-tenants include other health-minded brands, such as poke restaurants, juice bars and fitness centers. Though the demographic base covers all age segments, men and women in the 35- to 55-year-old range are the prime customer base for this tenant category.
Restore Hyper Wellness plans to open 100 new units in 2022 alone and then double the store openings every year until it reaches 1,500 locations, which will happen by 2025. The franchise brand is especially focused on expansion thanks to a $140M Series C funding round in December, led by the General Atlantic private equity firm. Markets all across the U.S. are being targeted for franchise growth, with rapid expansion especially occurring in Southern California, namely Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, as well as South Florida’s Dade and Broward counties. Restore Hyper Wellness will target space in the 2,100- to 3,500-s.f. range, and units between 2,500 and 3,000 s.f. are the sweet spot.
Preferred locations are end caps of outparcels at the entrance/exit of a power center and Restore will consider inline and freestanding spaces in higher end grocery-anchored centers with other health and wellness tenants. Ideal co-tenants include Massage Envy, Orangetheory Fitness, Pure Barre, European Wax Center and Whole Foods Market. Restore Hyper Wellness is especially known for its cryotherapy services, in which immersion into subzero body chambers can boost energy and advance healing. Restore also offers other services such as IV drip therapy, red light therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and infrared saunas.
Perspire Sauna Studio will be expanding to all major markets, with San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas being especially targeted for future growth. The brand, which currently has 80 franchise agreements in place and 23 studios in development, has aggressive goals of opening up to 100 new units per year over the next five years. Space should be between 1,400 and 1,800 s.f., inline or end cap, 19 feet wide and 80 feet deep, in power centers and strip malls. Ideal locations include higher end urban, suburban or resort-style communities in which the average household income is at least $75K, with health and fitness-related co-tenants, including Orangetheory Fitness and Whole Foods Market. The average Perspire Sauna Studio can hold up to 10 private sauna rooms and each comes equipped with infrared heat lamp light therapy and smart TVs, with streaming options such as Netflix, Hulu and Pandora.
SweatHouz hopes to open between 50 and 100 new studios per year over the next three to five years, which will be a combination of both corporate and franchise units.
The brand is interested in all markets in the U.S. but is especially targeting franchisees in metros such as Denver, Salt Lake City and Nashville, Tenn. The ideal square footage is between 1,400 and 2,100 s.f. and end cap or inline space in power centers and strip malls will be sought after. Sweathouz is also open to unique spaces if ideal co-tenants are in place, including its upcoming 2,349-s.f. unit in Charleston, S.C., which is in a renovated 1950’s landmark building with co-tenants such as Poke Burri and the Ruby Sunshine brunch restaurant. SweatHouz has also successfully opened in ground-floor spaces of mixed-use apartment buildings. Preferred co-tenants include non-competing health and relaxation brands, such as CorePower Yoga. SweatHouz provides both infrared saunas and cold plunge tubs, which are meant to detox toxins from the body and result in enhanced moods, improved cardiovascular systems and reduced muscle inflammation.
True Rest Float Spa expects to open 10 to 15 units in 2022, with that number increasing year to year as more franchisees are signed on. The spa concept is currently gearing up for expansion in all major U.S. markets, and immediate growth will take place in Pensacola, Fla., Draper, Utah, North Raleigh, N.C., and Parsippany, N.J. The brand is also in talks for new units in Los Angeles. Most of its units average 3,000 s.f., which can comfortably house six of its flotation pods, but True Rest Float Spa will also consider spaces as small as 2,000 s.f., which can hold four of its pods.
Anticipate True Rest to prefer spaces that are quiet, in Class B+ centers with sufficient parking. Ideal units are within a single-level building, to avoid excess noise. Preferred co-tenants include like-minded service brands, such as chiropractic care, acupuncture businesses or massage studios, such as MassageLuXe. In addition to flotation therapy, True Rest also allows for its video room to be converted to a salt cave, a room filled with small salt particles that are purported to improve breathing. At the moment, True Rest is also experimenting with adding virtual reality and music menu elements inside its float pods. The True Rest Float Spa experience lasts an hour, in which customers float atop salt water for meditative pain relief and relaxation.
