Dennis Conklin, joined by his wife Rosie, is San Diego County’s first Massage Envy franchise owner.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Massage Envy is set to open its first local location Nov. 3 in Carlsbad. Franchise owner Dennis Conklin, who doubles as a regional developer for San Diego and Imperial counties, said the plan is to max out San Diego with 20 to 23 locations in the next few years.

As of this month, Massage Envy, which was founded in 2002 and reported nearly $100 million in sales last year, has 120 locations and 248 more under development in 30 states. Those under construction are all expected to open within the next six to 18 months, Conklin said.

The Massage Envy concept involves customers purchasing memberships in either six- or 12-month terms that entitle them to one one-hour massage a month and a discounted rate for additional one-hour massages in the same month.

As of this month, there are 97,240 Massage Envy members and the company doesn’t plan to stop expanding until it has about 1,200 locations nationwide — with at least one in every state by 2016, Conklin said.

Six franchise owners have been identified for 11 general San Diego County locations: Carlsbad, San Marcos, Carmel Valley, Eastlake, Mira Mesa, the La Jolla/University Towne Center area, Mission Valley, Hillcrest, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Rancho Bernardo and Solana Beach. All are slated to open by the end of next year.

Finding interested owners in the county hasn’t been too difficult, according to Conklin, who, in addition to Carlsbad, will run the San Marcos and Solana Beach locations.

“The way things are going, it’s amazing how much interest is out there for this concept and massage, in general,” Conklin said.

Massage Market Grows

The American Massage Therapy Association estimates the industry to be worth between $6 billion and $11 billion annually and growing, as about 47 million American adults received a massage last year, up from some 45 million in the previous year.

Massage Envy’s closest competitor using the same membership-driven model is San Antonio-based Massage Heights. Founded in 2004, Massage Heights has 12 franchise locations, all in Texas, and plans to open four more, also in Texas, by the end of next year.

In May, the International Council of Shopping Centers bestowed one of its “Hot Retailers” awards on Massage Envy. Past recipients of the award given annually by the New York-based trade association, which touts 61,000 members globally, include Apple Computer Inc., Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. and Victoria’s Secret.

Success Is In The Details