Massage companies expanding on LI

Hands-on businesses keep growing on Long Island, particularly massage businesses.

A Denver-based company, Fitness Together Holdings Inc., said earlier this week that by the end of next year, it will have seven additional Elements Therapeutic Massage franchises on the Island. It already has one open, in Smithtown.

These will be in addition to outlets owned by two other companies — Hand & Stone and Massage Envy — that announced openings this spring. Hand & Stone now has four Island locations, and Massage Envy has 10.

Does Long Island need so many massage places? Obviously yes, said Jeff Jervik, president and chief executive of Fitness Together Holdings. The company, he said, is considering even more locations in the future.

“People are coming for stress relief,” said Jervik, who headed an equity team that acquired Fitness Together Holdings from its founder in 2006. “It's a great opportunity to have an hour to yourself to lay on that table and have somebody give you a great massage.”

The business is highly competitive and entrance fees costly. An Elements Therapeutic Massage franchise costs between $250,000 and $275,000, according to Jervik.

Ryan DeMarco, a former Wall Street institutional trader who bought the Smithtown franchise four years ago, says he now employs about 20 people and the business is profitable.

How well the business does, DeMarco said, “all depends on the person running it and how hard they work.”

Jervik said his company is also bringing jobs to the Island. Each outlet typically employs about 20 people, he said.

Fitness Together has opened 94 outlets nationwide. The driver, Jervik said, may well be people seeking stress relief in the bad economy. The business, he said, “has almost been recession-proof. We've grown so significantly.”