Ay, there's the rub

Kevin Epstein sat in a T-shirt and blue running shorts in the lobby of the Massage Envy clinic Monday morning.

The North Naples clinic opened May 27, but it still feels familiar to the Fort Lauderdale resident who was in town for business. The purple wall with the silver logo. The purple-blue overhead lights. The friendly service.

"You go into a different city, yet the ambience, the services and the prices are the same in all the offices," said the 37-year-old cosmeceutical company representative.

Epstein crisscrosses southern Florida during the week for work, often logging up to 600 miles on the road. To prepare for a week, Epstein said he looks at massages as "a vehicle to decompress and preparing myself for the week to come."

Before Massage Envy, Epstein said he usually got massages once or twice a month at hotel or resort spas or from private therapists who came to his home. Cost per one-hour session ranged from $50 to more than $100, he said.

He found a more inexpensive alternative at Massage Envy, which became a national franchise in 2003. The massage clinic has a membership program that is modeled after gym memberships. At the North Naples location, in the Naples Walk plaza off Vanderbilt Beach Road, clients can pay $59 per month for membership in six- or 12-month blocks. The monthly fee includes a one-hour massage and unlimited massages for $39 each.

Photo by Garrett Hubbard, Daily News

Kevin Epstein relaxes as massage therapist Shannon Jones gives him a deep-tissue massage at Massage Envy in North Naples on Monday, June 5. Epstein usually visits the Massage Envy location near his home in Fort Lauderdale but was in the Naples area for business and scheduled his biweekly appointment at the newly opened location.

"The membership program helps keep prices low," said Rich Dunning, the Massage Envy regional developer for the area between Tampa and Naples. "We are better able to anticipate the demand."

Non-members' massage rates are double the members' rates and gift certificates are more expensive.

"The idea is we have really moved massages down from an elite specialty sort of thing to everyone having a healthy lifestyle," Dunning said.

He said the three key concepts about the franchises are "professional, convenient and affordable."

The membership is also transferable and can be used at any of the 101 Massage Envy locations nationwide, Dunning said. Membership fees vary a little among the locations, but members' massage rates are the same nationally, he said.

"I can see myself going on the Web site for other locations," said Epstein, who signed up for membership six weeks ago at the Davie location. He said he plans on getting three to four massages per month now.

Currently, there are five Massage Envy clinics in Florida, according to its Web site. The company plans to open four to seven more franchises in the Naples-Fort Myers area in a few years, Dunning said.

Photo by Garrett Hubbard, Daily News

The sign in the reception area of the new Massage Envy clinic, which opened for business in late May in the Naples Walk plaza at the corner or Vanderbilt Beach and Airport-Pulling roads.

The 10-room North Naples clinic has 12 massage therapists, said Denise Durgin, manager of the local clinic.

As of June 5, the local clinic saw 117 customers, well on track to meet this month's goal of 500 clients, Dunning said.

In the future, the clinic hopes to have about 25 to 35 therapists like the south Tampa location, which opened 15 months ago, Dunning said. The Tampa location has about 1,600 to 1,800 appointments per month.

Suzanne Rosen said she has gotten massages since she was in her 20s on cruise ships and local spas. But sessions were "terribly expensive," running $100 or more, so she would get massages "only when I was in pain."

The 56-year-old East Naples resident said she suffers from arthritic pain and "all the stuff that comes with old age." While moving from one home to another, she said she injured her knee and "could barely walk three steps."

The therapist during her first session at the new massage clinic "made me able to walk the rest of the day, which was quite an accomplishment," said Rosen, who saw an ad for Massage Envy in a Valpak coupon book.

Clients are able to request the same therapist at the same location if they want, Dunning said.

After her first session, Rosen signed up to be a full-time member at the massage clinic.

The longer clinic hours also appeal to Rosen, who booked a massage at 5 p.m., because she said she is "more of a night person than a day person."

Weekdays, the clinic is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and weekends the clinic closes at 6 p.m.

One passerby asked if the hours posted on a door was a typo, Durgin said. "People are very surprised that we're open till 10 p.m."

So far, most of the clients have come in the morning, Durgin said, because "that's when they are used to getting massages." But she said she hopes the extended hours will attract people who "work the traditional 9-to-5 job, so that they can take advantage of getting massages."

Dunning said the franchise is not looking to put anyone out of business but to provide "an alternative to other purveyors of massages. What we want to provide is a known, affordable, professional place for them to go."

According to data from the Florida Department of Health, there are 177 licensed massage establishments in Naples and 496 licensed massage therapists.

Some local therapists said they wonder if the low and more affordable fees will prevent the new franchise from maintaining a permanent spot in Naples.

"I don't know how they are going to make it," said Liz Black, an independent massage therapist. "Rents are very high in this area."

Black charges $80 per one-hour session. "That's what works for most people," she said.

She said she is not concerned about the franchise threatening her business because she has a loyal clientele.

Also, many new massage therapists and establishments "offer cheaper prices and then they have to raise," she said.

Anthony Hansen, owner of Absolute Health Therapeutic, said the low fees may reflect the quality of the massages.

"I wish them the best," Hansen said. But he said he thinks it is odd that the franchise is charging "half of what everyone else is charging."

His clinic offers massages for about $80 per hour, he said.

Dunning said to take into account higher real estate costs in Naples, the new Massage Envy clinic's membership fee is $10 higher than the south Tampa location.

"Anywhere you can apply the fixed costs over the variable cost, you can have a more affordable price," he said. "We are not scrimping on therapists."

Dunning said all Massage Envy therapists "have exceeded requirements of the individual state." The Florida Board of Massage Therapy requires therapists to complete massage therapy studies at a board-approved school or program, pass the national certification examination and also complete a two-hour course on prevention of medical errors before granting a license.

At the south Tampa location, about 90 percent of the therapists have had previous experience before coming to Massage Envy, with most averaging about 15 years in the profession, Dunning said. Also many of the therapists work part time because they also have their own practices, he said.

From past experiences, Black said many of her former therapists picked up and left her once they established a sizable and stable clientele.

Even if Massage Envy has good therapists now, "when those therapists leave, the clients will leave with them," said Black, who used to operate several massage offices in Naples. "They'll get attached to them, that's just what happens."

But Epstein said he doesn't mind having a new therapist each time he visits the Massage Envy clinic.

"I like to mix things up," he said. "If the therapist is good, I'll get back around to them." After his deep-tissue massage on Monday, he said he bought two gift certificates for friends in Naples.