BizBeat: Hoping the "American dream' is still alive

Wellness center for sale

Owner Gloria Baker is hoping to sell Therapeutic Touch Wellness Center.
Owner Gloria Baker is hoping to sell Therapeutic Touch Wellness Center.

When Gloria Baker opened Therapeutic Touch Wellness Center in 2007, she set out to make a few things happen. With the help of her nine partners, she wanted to renovate the historic Jefferson City house, 1128 Jefferson St., that had been sitting empty for 30 years. She wanted to create a space where massage therapists could make a living, and she wanted to help massage therapy be taken seriously, furthering the practice in Mid-Missouri.

After fulfilling each of these items, Baker is intent on checking her last goal off the list - getting her son into college.

With her son now a junior at Blair Oaks, Baker said the time to devote herself to her family is now.

"I'm hoping the American dream is still alive," said Baker, a licensed massage therapist. "My goal was never to be an owner."

So Feb. 1, a Bowman Realty, Inc. "For Sale" sign was placed on the front lawn of the Jefferson Street property. The sale is listed two ways - buyers can purchase just the building and the property, or the building, property, and business together.

Baker said her hope would be that someone would continue what she's started. There are five massage therapists, not counting Baker, working out of the wellness center, with more than 3,000 clients.

"The best-case scenario would be for someone to buy the business," Baker noted. "That would be my goal. I would love to see her continue."

Baker said her decision to sell the business is not cause for sympathy or sadness. "I am not failing," she said. "We are not closing."

Until a sale is made, business will continue as usual. She said any gift certificates will be honored, even if the business sells.

Baker hopes to take her clients with her, which she said would still leave over $105,000 a year in revenue for Therapeutic Touch.

She wants to get back to focusing on her clients and family, and less on running the business. She hopes her employees and their clients will be able to continue in the building and environment she's worked hard to create. She noted that the business is viable, even without her name attached.

Baker is the fifth owner of the Jefferson Street building, which is 104 years old. The building won the Golden Hammer award in 2008. Baker remodeled the building, bringing everything up to commercial code.

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