5 Questions with Junius Brown, Owner of Elements Massage in Ridgefield
Three years ago in July, Ridgefield resident Junius Brown left the corporate world and became an entrepreneur. Brown, whose wife is a Band Director at East Ridge Middle School, opened Elements Massage at 86 Danbury Road, part of a family of over 240 independently-owned and operated studios across the U.S. and Canada.
We sat down with Junio to learn about local entrepreneurship, the benefits of massage, and what it's like to live and work in our great community.
You live in town and operate a business here! Tell me about that.
My wife, Hilary, and I moved to Ridgefield in 2000 and live in Twixt Hills. She is the East Ridge Middle School Band Director. In 2010, after 17 years at Pepsi, I decided to do something different. We loved our neighborhood, the town, our kids were in High School, and she loved (still does) her job, so there was no way we were going to relocate. After a couple of disappointing transitions, I decided to take control of my life and open my own business. It’s been the best career decision of my life; It has brought me closer into the community, helped me understand how supportive our Town officials are of small businesses. I’m very lucky to live and make a living in such a great town - it's such a dream come true.
Tell me about Elements Massage. When did you open?
We opened on July 23 so we’re coming up on our 3-year anniversary! When we opened I had 12 employees and zero clients. Coming from the corporate world, honestly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Today we have 24 employees and over 1,400 members who get the health benefits of regular, monthly massage at an affordable price.
Why massage?
Five years ago, I was looking for a health and wellness business that would succeed in Ridgefield. Until that time, I had never received a massage, and I was like many people who didn’t believe I needed it or would enjoy it. I came out of my first massage transformed. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t started doing this a decade ago. The more I research I did, the more convinced I became that our active, busy, stressed community needed more available, affordable, quality therapeutic massage options.
What makes Elements Massage special?
Without a doubt, it’s our people. Our therapists are passionate, dedicated healers and our front desk team is warm, welcoming and organized. Our goal is to make the health benefits of therapeutic massage available and affordable here in Ridgefield and make every client feel like they are the most important person in the world while they are here. We’re open 7 days a week, 9am – 9pm; Our town needs that kind of availability. We offer a better Wellness Program that makes it affordable for your household, without the risk of a long-term commitment.
Best selling massage?
We customize every massage to what outcome the client is looking for on that visit. Are they coming into relax? Relieve stress? Work out some knots? Recover from a 5k? Based on what the client needs, we offer Aromatherapy, Himalyan Salt Stones, CBD herbal ritual, and in the fall