Vol. 10, Issue 3, March 2021
Your community. Your magazine. ™
®
The Premier “Shop Local” Community Magazine Directly Mailed To Over 15,000 Homes In Citrus Park, Westchase & Surrounding Areas This Independent Community News, Business & Dining Guide Is Directly Mailed Once Each Month To:
Arlington Park • Aston Villas • Bay Arbor • Berkeley Square • Calf Path Estates • Enclave At Citrus Park • Fawn Ridge Fawn Lake • Forest Lakes • Hampton Lakes • Highland Park • Lake Chase • Mandolin • The Eagles • Tree Tops Twin Branch Acres • Waterchase • West Hampton • Westchase • Westchester • Westwood Lakes • Windsor Place
Trust the Experts at CMK Construction for All Your Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeling Needs By Tom Bostock When Manny and his wife Courtney started CMK Construction, it was with a commitment to quality products and outstanding customer service. Even though, according to their website, www.cmkconstruction.com, CMK Construction has been serving the Tampa area as the Kitchen and Bath Experts since 2004 and has over 17 years’ experience in kitchen and bath renovations, let’s find
out what some of their friends and neighbors, their former customers, think of their own individual experiences with them from their testimonials on the CMK website:
Master Bath Remodel
Carol S. 3 months ago:
“Thank you, CMK, for the great teamwork from start to finish. Salesman Jordan explained what needed to be done, Natassa was great in See “CMK” on page 12
Rigby’s Barbershop Is A Cut Above the Rest For Men and Boys By Deborah Bostock-Kelley If the television show “Cheers” could be recreated as a barbershop, it would be Rigby’s, a friendly spot in the heart of Westchase named after the owner’s dog. From catering to dads and their young sons to adult sons and their elder fathers, Rigby’s offers haircuts, beard trims, straight razor shaves, beer, and occasionally two tail-wagging See “Rigby’s” on page 10
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: From the Editor.....................5
Restore Hyper Wellness + Cryotherapy — For A Happier, Healthier You!........................8
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Spring Kitten Season Has Arrived, and Shelters need Your Help! In some of my previous editorials, I’ve talked a little about how COVID19 had negatively impacted many of our local businesses, particularly in the entertainment and restaurant industries. I wanted to take this opportunity to bring to your attention an organization that is very close to my heart, and that is in desperate need of your help; St. Francis Society Animal Rescue. A little over a year ago, I fostered several adult cats and kittens through St. Francis, and it was one of the most beautiful and most meaningful experiences of my entire life. In the process, I not only learned a lot about myself, but I also fell in love with two amazing cats that are now part of my furever family of four, and I couldn’t imagine my life without them. I have officially accepted the title of “Crazy Cat Lady For Life,” and it’s not a bad one when you consider the incredible amount of kitty kisses, head bumps, and unconditional love you’ll get from them! And don’t worry about the shedding; cat hair is happy people’s glitter. Recently I received the following email from St. Francis Society Animal Rescue; “It happens each Spring. Thousands of homeless and abandoned kittens are born in the Tampa community. Helpless, hungry, and often sick, they depend upon strangers’ kindness to help take them in and save their lives. This year’s kitten season arrived just a few weeks ago and has already begun filling up St. Francis Society foster homes. Sadly, due to the struggling economy, this spring, we have also received many calls from owners facing eviction and are desperate for placement of their pets. We want to help them, but we can’t do it alone.
How YOU can Help Save A Life! SEND FOOD - Our cupboards are bare! Our last food drive was in October, and not surprisingly, it has all been used. We are desperate for kitten food, formula, and other supplies and would be so grateful if you could help send us some items from our Wish List on Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ genericItemsPage/1TFI4A04OIAJ3 FOSTER AN ADULT CAT - Sadly, we currently have very few volunteers who can foster adult cats. If you have a spare bedroom or bathroom, please consider fostering an adult cat in need. As mentioned above, there are so many cats looking for homes due to evictions and economic hard times. For more information, please visit https://stfrancisrescue.org/#/rescue-ui/ volunteer.” As I sat there with my three adopted cats in my bed, I told myself I wanted to help spread their message. And what better way to do that than to dedicate my editorial to bringing awareness into their selfless, caring cause. You don’t have to leave your house to be a hero for an animal in need! P; please visit https://stfrancisrescue.org/ for more information. If you’re active on social media, please follow them on Facebook at: at https://www.facebook.com/ StFrancisSocietyAnimalRescue You can also email me directly if you’d want more information about my personal experience volunteering with adult cats and kittens! I’d be happy to answer any questions. If you are concerned about a loose animal, unleashed dog, abuse, or neglect of an animal, please contact the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center (813) 744-5660. Till next time,
Carla Dubis Tedeschi
6 MARCH 2021
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Restore Hyper Wellness + Cryotherapy, Tampa, Florida— For A Happier, Healthier You! By Tom Bostock Welcome to the 21st century! There is something unique about two Tampa recovery, health, and wellness facilities at 13158 North Dale Mabry Highway and 10718 Country way Blvd, respectively. What began in Austin, Texas in 2016 is becoming a staple on the wellness scene in Tampa, a viable alternative to unnecessary drugs and medications. When Kristen Prentice and her husband, two former athletes, looked for a franchise two years ago, they wanted to involve themselves with something both cutting edge and health related. The result, Restore Hyper Wellness and Cryotherapy is helping its customers holistically feel better than they have felt in a long time. You have only to read the tenets of their mission statement to understand the motivation of Kristen and her husband: “We are the passage for all things wellness. We make wellness affordable and accessible to everyone. Hyper Wellness is a lifestyle that improves the lives of our customers. Because wellness shouldn’t be restricted. Restore your health. Do more of what you love. Do More.” There are four “pillars of hyper wellness” noted on the Restore.com website. They show what all customers will receive during their visit to Restore: 1.Customers should feel better right away. 2. Services are supported by science and medicine. 3. Services are available to everyone. 4. Scalable, repeatable processes drive affordability. With holistic healing, health, wellness, drug-free recovery, and non-invasive treatments becoming more and more popular, Restore Hyper Wellness continues to be a leader in the field. After an initial consultation, your Restore professional can suggest any one
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of, or a combination of, services tailored to your individual needs. With nine different choices, they have something for everyone. Cryotherapy is an updated version of the ice bath that any former athlete remembers well. According to the website Restore. com, a treatment of whole-body cryotherapy can help to “reduce inflammation and releases endorphins that help ease pain, boost energy and metabolism, and increase the body’s natural abilities.” It is a wake-up call for your body and ideal for anyone who is in chronic pain and looking for an alternative form of relief. Cryotherapy isn’t just limited to whole body. Its facials, applied to the face and neck, relax irritated skin, reduce pore size, and raise collagen production. Ladies, this might be of special interest to you: the facial “increases blood circulation to produce a tighter, more even skin tone.” It helps smooth out fine lines and wrinkles with an increase in collagen production. Even localized cryotherapy which takes only 10-15 minutes is a definite improvement over the old towel and ice compress, icing a hurt area. Benefits can include reducing swelling, deceasing inflammation, and increasing mobility. Everyone knows that health fads come and go, but this one that is here to stay, and for good reasons, the I.V. drip. Nourishing your body from the inside out, it is 100% immediately available, compared to oral methods. Restore has taken the drip one step further, offering several I.V options. With the comprehensive micronutrient test, they can formulate “custom drips based on your deficiencies, leading to a healthier you.” There are wellness drips to accommodate your every need, from post party to another that energizes, a third for weight management, and one more for detox and antioxidants. Addition ones include the new Myers cocktail to improve your immune function. Athletes, whether it is
pre- or post- competition, there is something for you at Restore. There are still many others to choose from, all administered by a licensed nurse for your safety. Another service available at Restore is stretching courses through their Stretch+ component. Stretching is important for many reasons. The flexibility you achieve reduces the risk of injury while enhancing your physical fitness and reducing muscle tension, fostering physical and mental relaxation. As the website notes: “At Stretch+ we are doing more than providing assisted stretching. We are helping customers understand their bodies, giving them an opportunity to unplug from their stressful day, and allowing them to quiet their minds. There is a huge psychological component to stretching that we acknowledge. This goes back to creating an environment where people feel Restored–this is the culture of Stretch+.” I was unfamiliar with three other services until their website clearly and simply explained them. One was hyperbaric oxygen. According to the site, “Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a noninvasive therapy where users sit or lie in comfortable pressurized chamber while breathing 90%-95% pure oxygen.” The excess pressure causes the blood plasma, all of your cells, tissues and fluids to hold 10 times more oxygen than normal concentration. Benefits of the procedure include the production of more energy at a cellular level. Photobiomodulation (PBM) Therapy sounds complicated but it is the use of near infrared (NIR) light to reduce pain, inflammation, and edema, drastically aiding in the recovery process. PBM therapy also works at the cellular level, stimulating repair and normalizing cell function. I was surprised to learn the therapeutic use of visible and NIR light has been studied for almost forty years. Compression Therapy, the
Normatec Recovery System, uses what is called “sequential pulse technology,” pulsing compression, gradients, and distal release to maximize circulation and make you “feel better, train harder, and recover faster.” Can you see what all these services have in common? They make you feel better and help you be your best. That is essentially what Restore is all about. With COVID-19 on everybody’s mind, Kristen and her staff enforce all precautions including mandatory masks, sanitizing all equipment, before and after each treatment, as well as enforcing the social distance rule. They also offer concierge services for some of their services for an additional fee. There is an option for aches and pains that doesn’t involve pills. Why not join your friend and neighbors and give it a try? All that you will lose are your pains! With two offices to serve you, they are conveniently located from anywhere in the Tampa Bay area. Call or come by today. Restore Hyper Wellness and Cryotherapy 13158 N. Dale Mabry (Carrollwood) 813 252 5464 10718 Country Way Blvd. (West Chase) 813 510 3104
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“Rigby’s” - continued from page 1 four-legged greeters. “It’s the atmosphere where you walk in, someone is always going to say hello to you,” said founder Shawna Burnham. “People are going to converse with you. They’re going to care to say how are you today and listen to your answer. There’s jokes, laughter, and fun in here. There always is. It’s a great atmosphere. It’s the people that work here that make us different. That’s the short answer, the easiest answer, and that’s the truth.” Shawna said that customers regularly run into friends they know, sit in the large waiting room and have conversations while waiting for their service. Rigby’s is a noappointment-necessary, walk-right-in, grab-a-sportsmagazine-and-a-cold-one, welcoming kind of barbershop that the community was sorely lacking. As most men were not fans of women-centric hair salons, Rigby’s filled the niche. “Westchase needed a barbershop. When I opened nine years ago, men had two options: a chain or pay more money at a hair salon. Most men don’t want their hair washed, and most don’t color their hair. There’s really no reason for them to go into a hair salon and smell hair salon chemicals when they can go to
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our barbershop, watch sports, have a beer, read men’s magazines, and listen to chill music. It’s very much geared towards men, which I think makes them naturally more comfortable.” The irony is if Shawna hadn’t had an allergy to salon hair chemicals during her schooling in New York, this multi-generational local landmark since December 2012 might never have existed. Shawna put herself through college by working at a barbershop, where she had discovered she had a passion for barbering. Long before the pandemic protocols were implemented, Shawna and her staff were routinely disinfecting between clients, and the expansive 1500 square foot shop enabled social distancing. The large waiting room doesn’t get crowded, and customers can spread out and safely distance. Though the barbers wear masks while cutting hair, clients have a choice not to wear them. “Doing beard trims, it’s just not possible for a client to wear a mask,” Shawna explained. “We’ve always kept a clean shop. We’re tidy, and I’m a big fan of bleach. It’s always been like that in our industry. Sanitation has always been important. Nothing really
changed that drastically for us except for wearing the mask.” Whether it was pandemic2020-inspired or just a return to an older hairstyle, Shawna said that the hair trends she sees in 2021 are men wearing their hair on the longer side. “Some people are growing their hair out and realize they like it longer, even if they are keeping it clean around the edges. Then again, a lot of people are just buzzing their hair off at home. Coronavirus has completely changed everything for everybody. You adapt and keep going.” With a staff of 7 male and female barbers, Rigby’s is a great place for fathers and sons to bond and give moms an hour of alone time.
“While we specialize in men, we also love little kids. So I’d say we specialize in men and boy’s haircuts,” Shawna said. “That’s a really cool aspect of my job. You watch these kids grow up, and in the other direction, we have fathers that bring their dads in. I think a lot of barbershops can get crazy with the really loud music. We try to keep a chill atmosphere. We want our customers to enjoy the relaxed mood.” When asked what she loves about her job and the best compliment she has ever received from her customers, Shawna took but a second to respond, “I hear ‘I love the haircut and ‘it’s the best hair I’ve ever had.’ That happens
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more often, but when a customer says, ‘you’re funny,’ that’s my favorite compliment from anybody. That doesn’t go away. “The best gift that the barbershop has given me is honestly, I’ve met some of my best friends through Rigby’s. People started out being my customers, and we got along so well. The customers really become a part of your life. Some
people think it’s just a haircut, but the thing is, I was there when your kid was born; I gave him his first haircut before he went to kindergarten. I have a client who I’ve cut his hair since he was two and he’s 22 now getting ready to graduate from FSU. I helped him get an internship, and they just offered him a job. We are a part of people’s lives. It’s the friendships, the relationships, the community. Westchase
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is such a great community. It’s the people – that’s what I truly love about Rigby’s.” Rigby’s is located at 11655 Countryway Blvd in Westchase. They are open 9-7 Monday through Friday and 9-3 on Saturday. For more information, visit rigbysbarbershop.com.
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“CMK” - continued from page 1 helping with design. A special thank you to Eric and Jeff, who used their expertise and professional skills to create a beautiful Master Bath. They are the best of the best. The bathroom looks great and I couldn’t be happier.”
Kitchen remodel
John C. 2 months ago: “Folks, I’m not sure why you would call any other company in the Greater Tamps Bay area. CMK is the best. From Jessica, who came out and did the design. To working with Natassa in the showroom to pick out tile, grout etc.. Then Dylan working with us as the project manager. Man, I cannot say anymore about how they handled everything. Oh wait, how about Scott and Joe working on the project directly. You cannot and will not do any better. The professionalism, customer service, follow up as well as helpfulness on the entire process was awesome. If you choose a different team, I feel sorry for you... Ownership should be truly proud of these team members!!”
Galley Kitchen update Colleen M. 3 months ago:
“From beginning to completion of my galley kitchen, my experience with CMK has been phenomenal!!! Derrick the designer, Michael the project manager and Joe and Romy the contractors have conducted themselves in a courteous, professional manner and made me feel like my project was foremost. I couldn’t be happier with the personal attention I have received from Michael and Joe. I highly recommend CMK and will be using them on my future projects.”
Bathroom remodel
Bernardo C. 3 months ago: “Our experience was excellent. This was directly due to the Project Manager Dillon and the incredible crew of Scotty and Joe that did the work from demo to finish. Very meticulous workers and Dillon was very hands on in supporting his crew.” These are not only ringing
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endorsements for the quality of work performed by CMK Construction, but proof of the professionalism of its in-house staff, from the sales agent to the designer of your project to the project manager and installation workers. Separating themselves from the competition, CMK maintains two accredited designer professionals whose services they provide without charge to their customers. It is just one more way, CMK goes the extra mile for you! With a 5 out 5 ratings based on 59 reviews, their customers have given CMK Construction their unqualified approval, which explains their BBB accredited business rating of A+, 2020 People’s Choice Best of the Best Bathroom and Kitchen (Tampa Bay Times) and 2019 Angie’s List 2019 Super Service Award. Additional awards and accreditations have come from Home Advisor and Thumbtack. Manny explained CMK is under consideration for additional awards this year. Known for their quality and committed to providing exceptional customer service, CMK offers you, their customers, a range of outstanding products for all your remodeling needs. They are especially proud of their Schluter certification. Schluter is a German company that has developed a waterproofing system that, when installed
as part of your bathroom remodel, carries a lifetime guarantee. CMK continuously trains all its installation employees yearly on Schluter’s latest techniques. Manufacturers like Elysium, Delta, and Moen provide state-of-the-art faucets and hardware while industry leaders like Brizo, MSI, Cambria, Radianz beautify their kitchen counters. Matched with beautiful cabinets from Fabuwood, Wellborn, and R. D. Henry, an ordinary kitchen becomes extraordinary, your dream one. As the CMK website notes, “CMK Construction also sets itself apart as a kitchen remodeling company with multiple certifications. As a statedcertified general contractor that is Lead Safe Certified with the EPA, you can trust that your project is in the hands of a highly knowledgeable group.” Offering a full range of quality products for all your remodeling needs including kitchen and bath fixtures, countertops and kitchen cabinets, backsplashes, flooring and even under and over counter accent lighting incorporated into your design, your choices are many. It is obvious from my interview with co-owner Manny that he came by his love of remodeling and working with his hands naturally. When his father came to this country from Greece, he began a
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painting business. Manny said that for him remodeling was a three-step process: consult, design, and build, with each an integral part of the finished product. During the consultation phase, customers meet with the team’s designers to decide what elements should be part of their design. They can choose to work with their designer’s suggestions or provide their own blueprint designs. CMK is perfectly willing to work with either. During the preconstruction meeting, they complete all plans, order materials that may not be in stock, and schedule the remodel for construction when they receive the material. To aid in the open communications process between their client and CMK Construction, they go one step further and assign an experienced individual Project
Manager to each remodel. He is the contact person for each customer and is available to answer questions throughout the course of the project. This and a one-year workmanship warranty, besides individual manufacturer’s hardware ones, make up what Manny called CMK’s unique “peace of mind warranty.” The CMK Construction website explains why Tampa Bay consistently picks CMK Constructions for their remodeling needs: “That’s not the only reason that customers continue to hire our kitchen and bathroom remodeling company. We are a consistently top pick among Tampa homeowners because we offer a wide range of products and services. Whether you want a complete bathroom makeover or just a standalone service, you can expect beautiful and
long-lasting results. We have all the knowledge, skills, and resources that we need to complete any of your renovation goals.” With so many competitors out there, it is sometimes difficult to know who to choose. Anyone can place an ad saying they are a bath and kitchen remodeling contractor but ask yourself if they have 17 years of proven satisfied customer experience, at workforce of at least 70 skilled employees, have won multiple customer service awards, earned several certifications, and offer the Shluter’s lifetime leakproof guarantee, to name just a few of the many advantages of working with the CMK Construction professionals. If you can’t say yes to each of those questions, you need to call CMK Construction today, your state certified general contractor, and enjoy
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your professionally installed remodel tomorrow. As Manny notes in the introduction to his website: “Your Tampa home is more than your refuge from the world-it is also one of your most important investments. That is why, when you are ready to invest in a bathroom remodel or a kitchen remodel, you need a remodeling contractor with a proven reputation for exceptional results.” Think CMK Construction. CMK Construction is moving to a new location at 13329 W. Hillsborough Ave., Tampa, FL 33635 (813) 767 0646, but the showroom is still temporarily at 440 Roberts Rd, Ste #4, Oldsmar, FL 34677 (727) 513 3185. Call or visit today. Just a short drive from anywhere in the Tampa Bay area.
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