High-End Wellness Studio Comes To Kent Despite Pandemic: Here’s A Look Inside
A new high-end wellness center and studio is now open at 122 W. College Street in Historic Downtown Kent Ohio. Located on the ground floor next to conjoining neighboring 100-year-old historic buildings May Bros/Mayflower Warehouses and Kent Canadian Club, marks the latest evolving new business to open in Kent.
Over the last two years in the making, planning, and construction, this unique space aims to provide a holistic and coordinated approach to wellness by offering the services of fitness, yoga, meditation, massage, various holistic healing and therapeutic modalities under one roof.
The 122 building, Galerie, gets its studio name from Paris’ most iconic covered arcades in France called, Galerie Vivienne. Galerie Vivienne is one of the covered passages of Paris, France located in the 2nd arrondissement and has been registered as a historical monument since July 1974. It hosts a collection of many different retail vendors, bistros, cafes, shops, and a library for reading and mindfulness.
Galerie Wellness similarly brings it all together and takes things a step further with a social and community component of health and wellness, which is especially needed after a pandemic has pulled many of us apart for so long. Health, Wellness and Community are also important aspects of mental stability that are often overlooked with the hustle and bustle of “getting things back to normal” in our daily routines in life.
Galerie’s opening is coming at a time when the city and the country are grappling with the pandemic and its economic fallout. Dispute facing its share of challenges getting off the ground, Galerie’s creators said the space and its wellness mission are more important now than ever.
“Starting a project like this, not knowing if the pandemic was coming or going has been a difficult venture. But now that the space is here and ready, it is more obvious than ever that people need to focus on their overall wellness health. It is both needed and timely,” said Valerie Landis the owner of 122 W. College Street Building.
Galerie was planned to launch before summer, but its opening date was pushed back until August 2022, due to delays in construction and previous tenant issues. Galerie is operating with a seven-days a week schedule to start. Possible plans to truncate the hours may occur in the future if unforeseen challenges arise like lack of workers, customer demands, or new pandemic problems. Galerie collectively employs about 20 fitness instructors and works in collaboration with a number of health-focused groups to offer concierge services.
For now, group indoor fitness, yoga, reiki, sound baths, meditation classes and workshop options are available for customers, along with infrared sauna, chair massage, Thai massage, and personalize wellness treatments. Soon additional services will be added to expand into physician-led health consultations, chiropractic care, med spa treatments, acupuncture, and other holistic treatments.
Startup founder, Valerie Landis spearheaded the esthetic and cosmetic redesign of the 122 space. Combining a black/white color pallet with neutral colors while updating the lighting to include chandelier fixtures, restoring the hardwood floors, gutting the bathrooms, and tiling the entryway for an early 1900’s vibe and zen aesthetic.
The renovation plans however span to more than Galerie’s 2,000 sq foot first-floor redesign. The construction continues upstairs in the 122 building and across two levels into Garage 108 and above the Kent Canadian Club. The goal is aimed to turn the buildings into a social hub for workers and residents offering coworking spaces, a coffee bar, a rentable commercial kitchen and private event spaces with a market retail community center for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Over the last 18-months, Landis has cleared city approvals for an extensive list of exterior renovations and submitted architect plans for permits to restore, bring up-to-code, and give new life to the inside of these historic buildings to be zoned for mixed uses. The three conjoined buildings on College Street are in Kent’s overlay district located on the corner of Haymaker Parkway and South Water, across the street from where the construction for the new City Hall is happening.
Landis shares her views on how this entrepreneurship venture has been the hardest project she has ever worked on to-date and in the context of risk is a bullish bet. She ultimately felt it was critical during this difficult time period to continue to move forward and invest in the city, put the people to work, give them a creative outlet, and create something different that will have long-term viability for the City of Kent.
“It would be easy to say, let’s put the project on hold, give up, list it up for sale, or wait to see what happens with the market, but that only wastes valuable time from the concept existing in the community here. I’ve been a part of these type of business in Chicago as a consumer for years, so I know the value of what a community space like this can bring. Moving to Kent during the pandemic was a lonely start and finding a like-minded community base was even more challenging. My focus is to build something great that everyone can get behind and provide a road map to make our community better, so others do not struggle the same way as I have,” says Landis.
Galerie Wellness
122 W. College Street Kent, OH 44240
galeriewellnesskent.com
Hours of Operations: (hours subject to change)
Monday-Thursday 7AM-8PM
Friday-Saturday-Sunday 7AM-6PM
Purchase classes or punch card via https://galeriewellnesskent.com/shop