New location and time to recover revive Metamorphosis Wellness & Beauty

Tim Harty, The Business Times

A Feb. 3 fire at 1141 N. 25th St. temporarily left Metamorphosis Wellness & Beauty without a home, and though they signed a lease for a new location in mid-March, the fire essentially disrupted the business for six months.

But clients have slowly returned, and about the time their business sign was installed Aug. 14 at their new location, 436 Independent Ave., things started feeling fairly normal again for the three sisters who own Metamorphosis: Amanda Jones, Alesha Nadeau and Chelsey Abram.

Now, Metamorphosis Wellness & Beauty is ready for a grand reopening this coming weekend with events planned for Sept. 12-14. The owners are excited and relieved, because this little celebration of their business required a long walk down an arduous road.

“It’s definitely kind of like our phoenix-rising moment,” said Jones, the eldest of the sisters at 41 years old. “Or, like, what’s metamorphosis? It’s all about transformation.”

This phoenix didn’t rise from the ashes so much as it emerged from the smoke. Most of the harm done by the fire was smoke and heat damage. Items may not have burned up, but the sisters said 99 percent of their unit’s contents were no longer usable and needed to be replaced.

That led to an insurance claim and all of the tedium that comes with trying to get back all that they lost.

Then, the new location needed to be renovated, and that took a month. And though Metamorphosis Wellness & Beauty was open by April 15, it took about two weeks for a customer to walk in the door.

Even in mid-July when the sisters dared to think they had all of the things they needed at the new location, they then started to realize all of the things they still needed. So, they weren’t as close to normal as they thought.

But normalcy is nearing.

“We’re trying to get the last of the insurance money and get back on track,” Jones said.

And Abram said there’s a silver lining amidst all of the devastation and heartache.

“Now that we’re on the other side of it, we’re in a bigger place with nicer, more effective equipment,” she said. “The silver lining is it’s, like, everything is brand new.”

For example, Nadeau does body sculpting, and she now has much nicer body sculpting equipment for her clients.

“So,” Abram said, “after you go through all of the dark night of the soul and walk through the valley, you’re like, ‘See, the fire wasn’t that bad.’”

That brings them back to the grand reopening, and the purpose they hope it serves, reminding people what Metamorphosis Wellness & Beauty is, how well it takes care of its clients, and it’s better than ever.

“Some of our clients still haven’t came back to us yet, and I understand that, when you have a lapse in service, because of things in life and all this stuff,” Abram said. “So now we’re just trying to kind of get back up to the point where we can kind of re-inform all of the public and our people that we are back at it and open in a brand new, beautiful place and actually expanded services.”

Among the things that are obviously different are the size of the store. Abram said Metamorphosis had about 1,100 square feet at its North 25th Street location, and now it has 2,300 square feet.

Nadeau said there were only four rooms in the previous unit. Now there are six “much, much larger” rooms, and she said the smallest room at 436 Independent Ave. is larger than the largest room was at the former location.

For examples of what the additional space allows Metamorphosis to do, the sisters immediately mentioned “more services simultaneously” and hiring more staff members, bringing the total to 10.

They also mentioned the crystal healing tools, more specifically crystal singing bowls and tuning forks for sound therapy.

And there are more nails services, as in they now can offer a full nail-service menu.

Whatever the service, old or new, one thing hasn’t changed, as Nadeau said clients can expect the same caring approach Metamorphosis Wellness & Beauty always provided.

“We’re not like burn and turn, where you come in for your massage, you get roomed, you’re out,” she said, snapping her fingers at the mention of each step. “We’re like, we know who your kids are. 

We want to know what your ailments are, and we’re going to remember the next time you come in, like, how is your knee feeling?”

MORE ABOUT METAMORPHOSIS

Metamorphosis Wellness & Beauty is located at 436 Independent Ave.

To find out more about the business, go online to metamorphosisgj.com or call 970-314-9689.

For a sense of what you can expect, the website offers the following: “Whether you’re here for a facial, massage, lashes, body sculpting, or energy healing, you’ll be welcomed with care and treated like family.”

Variety of contributions

Speaking of family, the three sisters who own and work at Metamorphosis have their own specialties as noted on their business cards: Amanda Jones is a licensed massage therapist and reflexologist; Alesha Nadeau is a certified body sculptor and SunnaSmile tech (teeth whitening); and Chelsey Abram is a licensed esthetician.

Grand reopening Sept. 12-14

The daily events are as follows:

• Sept. 12 – Meet & Greet New Studio Tour. Open house 5-8 p.m.
• Sept. 13 – Wellness, Wine & the Women Behind it. Meet the staff, tour the new studio, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sept. 14 – Customer Appreciation. Giveaways, music, food, hair tinsel, temporary tattoos and much more.