3 minute read
Stretch It Out And Feel the Difference
Stretch It Out And Feel the Difference
By Leonard Shapiro
A Dartmouth graduate with an MBA from the prestigious University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, Jeff Jeffress spent the first twenty years of his career as a management consultant working with a wide variety of Fortune 500 companies.
These days, he’s delighted to focus on only one business—his own—and it takes no stretch of the imagination to understand why. Located in the bustling Gateway shopping complex in Gainesville, there’s a whole lot of body stretching going on inside his recently opened enterprise.
It’s called StretchLab, and after doing plenty of due diligence when he was deciding on the sort of franchise he’d like to own, Jeffress is convinced there’s tremendous potential based on what he’s seen since the doors opened on May 15.
Men and women, kids and seniors, runners and hikers, tennis players and golfers, even a few local junior and senior high school football players have been stretched out by the eight flexologists on duty seven days a week. They’re all certified in either personal training, physical or massage therapy and yoga instruction, as well as additional training in the art and science of the stretch.
Jeffress, an avid runner and hiker, is a stretch-ee himself but is hands off on the clients.
“Oh yeah, I’ll get stretched,” he said. “That’s a perk for me. The real perk is to see how it helps people. It makes a huge difference in their lives. One guy called and said he had just driven his car for two hours and, for the first time in 20 years, when he got out, his back didn’t hurt him at all.”
Added flexologist Kylie Lewis, also a long-time personal trainer, “many people get results almost instantly. People make huge progress right away. It’s very impressive.”
Stretching has a wide variety of benefits, including improving sports performance, increasing range of motion and flexibility, reducing muscle and joint pain, and improving posture.
There are several ways to utilize the Gainesville facility. At the moment, they’re offering a one-time $49 cost for a 50-minute introductory session. Monthly memberships are preferred, with prices starting at $179 per month or more depending on how many stretches per week and the length of each, either 25 or 50 minutes. It can be done with a one-on-one or family plan option.
“When I was looking around to see what direction I would take, I really thought people needed this kind of service,” Jeffress said. “This is different than a gym concept. There really is no place just dedicated to stretching, and the awareness of the importance of stretching is growing.
“So far, the response has been great. We already have 130 members and we’re adding to it all the time. People really are starting to see the benefits.”
StretchLab is located at 13970 Promenade Commons Street in Gainesville.
