There are 1,000+ Massage Envy locations in the USA.
I couldn't tell you what one of them looks like.
Hello everyone. The New York Times and Air Mail both published stories about Feed Me this morning (the coordination was not planned) so there are some new readers here — welcome to the most fun daily business newsletter on the internet. I started a Substack Chat in case you think I left anything out. If you want to learn more about what you can expect from this newsletter, this is a good place to start:
Last night, I moderated a Q+A with my friend Cazzie David after a screening of her new movie I Love You Forever. There are a few more showings this weekend at Quad Cinema if you’re interested in a movie about toxic relationships and the role iPhones play in manipulation!!! Afterwards, I went to New York’s newest members’ club, The Twenty Two. The room was packed, the food was great. Everyone looked employed and sophisticated, and it’s worth noting that very few phones were out. Excited to see how all these new rooms shake out when San Vicente Bungalows opens next weekend.
Today’s letter includes:
An interview with the founder of Spencer’s, a downtown spa which seemed to take over my Instagram almost overnight. I heard about their aggressive expansion plans a few weeks ago, and I am curious about their accessible luxury thesis.
Feed Me’s Brooklyn Heights experts comment on a potential hotel coming to their neighborhood.
What business owners think when you ask them for free stuff in exchange for Instagram posts.
📱 Reminder that the Feed Me Tip Hotline is open for (anonymous) texts and voicemails: (646) 494-3916 📱
There are over 1,000 Massage Envy locations in the United States.
And I couldn’t tell you where a single one is located.
A few weeks ago I got a text from a friend who was at a dinner party and heard that Spencer’s, a new spa in Soho, is opening 50 locations in the next few years. I hadn’t been to the spa yet, but I’d seen it countless times on my Instagram feed. Every member of the dream influencer marketing A-Team (Kit Keenan, Remi Bader,
, , , and Jessie Andrews) had posted the lobby of the spa – it looks like an expensive living room full of burled wood furniture and dimly-lit lamps. Most importantly, it didn’t look like the VC-backed memorable interiors of Sweetgreen or Blank Street Coffee.To my surprise, there’s an explicit referral program outlined on the site, which is great for a business that has leaned on influencers to get initial word out. But on a long enough timeline, Spencer’s expects all of us to become brand affiliates.
The rumored expansion plan for a spa might sound ambitious, until you realize Glowbar has 20+ locations, Massage Envy has 1000+ locations, Ever/Body has 10+ locations, and the amorphous world of wellness that connects Palm Heights to WSA has extended from Grand Cayman to Bushwick. I was driving down Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn yesterday and saw a full-building wrap promoting a new med spa called Mia Aesthetics, and last week I wrote that if I had a dollar for every new fundraising deck I’ve seen for a “social spa concept” this year, I’d have $6 or $7. New York’s appetite for premium spa experiences hasn’t been satiated yet.