Warrior Wellness is planning to move to a bigger space – meaning it will have more services to offer the community, as well.
Owner and founder Dee Howell plans on upscaling current services by moving from 1004 Locust St. to 715 Main St.
Howell mostly does massage therapy, customizing massages to client needs and concerns. She also aids in assisted stretching.
She opened her Eudora location in March 2023. The new career was a result of corporate burnout, she said. She knew it wasn’t the fulfillment she wanted, but providing service to a community she cares about deeply is, she said.
It’s especially important to her to help Eudora residents, as she feels called to the city, she said.
“When I got my license and finished all of my schooling, it was important for me to be in Eudora. I’ve been here 50 years,” Howell said. “And when I started down this path, I knew that Eudora was the community that I wanted to serve.”
Catering to Eudora’s senior population is special to her, and she has implemented a daily senior special because she realizes some are on a fixed income.
“As we age, we tend to lose flexibility, range of motion, that kind of thing, and so for me to be able to help them to be able to stay in their own homes to do their daily personal needs, that’s amazing,” she said.
Ruth Hughs, Howell’s third grade teacher, is one of the seniors who has started seeing her regularly.
“A lot of seniors are really drawn to her service,” Hughs said. “I love what she’s doing downtown. That’s going to be such a benefit to the downtown area – having that space look really nice and the services.”
As Howell moves to the new location, her goal stays the same. She hopes to make massages a part of a resident’s wellness routine rather than something that’s a luxury. She makes her massages affordable in hopes of making it a part of client’s health rituals.
“It’s just like going to the doctor. You go to a doctor to get treatment. You come here and get treatment to help you keep mobile and have your flexibility range of motion, all of that,” Howell said.
The new building is just shy of 2,000 square feet, encompassing the entire main floor of 715 Main St. There will be space for three treatment rooms. Services will also be available from another massage therapist, Angie Cifuentes, as well as a chiropractor, Kendrea Howell.
She hopes to eventually rent the rooms out to other businesses in hopes of making Warrior Wellness an all-around wellness center. She can see adding a nurse practitioner or an esthetician to do lashes and eyebrows.
Cifuentes joined the team about five months ago. She started as a client and then was motivated by Howell to get her own massage license.
She’s excited to move to a bigger space, continue to expand her clientele and continue to help Howell evolve the business into a well-rounded wellness center.
She also agreed massage is more than a luxury, but many feel it is out of reach financially. Their goal is to make it affordable.
“If you come in and you want just a simple massage for relaxation, that’s all fine and great, but in the process, it improves your circulation and takes away some of the stress that you may be facing every day, and I can’t stress enough that massage is not just a luxury,” Cifuentes said.
The new location will also have a boutique-style gym that focuses on honing a non-judgemental environment. An infrared sauna for muscle recovery, cardiovascular disease, anxiety and depression will also be available in the new facility.
She will still offer her life coach and nutrition coach services, as well as other body treatments like clay masks.
The business will be ever evolving, Howell said, so some potential offerings are still up in the air.
She hopes to have the new location open within a few months, though it could be sooner, she said.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj
