Newspaper Stories
A Touching Homecoming
With the return to his favorite location in August, Bill Hansen, owner of Strongsville's Today's Touch, feels like he has come back home. He hadn't been far away; the previous location of his unique massage therapy and dinner spa was only a half-mile south, in a shopping strip on Pearl Road.
"It was a commercial setting that didn't offer the peaceful ambiance that we have here," Bill explains as he relaxes before the wood-burning fireplace in the cottage-like lobby of his "new" office. "I am very excited to be back here."
Bill, a licensed massage therapist, relocated Today's Touch from the city's recreation center to 11180 Pearl Road in 1999, sharing the building with a chiropractor. Within three years he grew out of his half of the building and moved down the road into a larger venue. But five years later, after learning of the availability of his previous building -- the whole thing -- he made the move back without hesitation.
"The stand-alone building is much more appropriate to the atmosphere that we wanted to create," Bill says. "When you walk in here it's like walking into a living room."
A greeting from Pumpkin, Bill's friendly Golden Retriever, completes the home-like setting. Pumpkin is training to be a therapy dog for hospitals and nursing homes.
Today's Touch offers a variety of therapeutic and relaxing massages along with its signature package -- a romantic dinner-massage for couples. The popular two- to three-hour package features a private dinner prepared by a local restaurant and served in the spa's quaint bistro. Through a partnership with a local hotel, you can expand your dinner-massage package into an overnight getaway.
Everything about Today's Touch, from the decor, which features the work of Thomas Kinkade, to the quiet background music, to the massage therapy itself, is aimed at the elimination of stress. In fact, it was the stress of a high-pressure career in retail management that moved Bill into his new, peaceful occupation 10 years ago.
"Once I got my first massage I knew this is what I wanted to do," Bill recalls. "The majority of the problems we have in our lives come from stress, which builds up to the point where our immune systems shut down. We live with such a fast pace that we don't take the time to relax and breathe properly."
The relaxation of massage therapy, he says, not only feels good, but also improves "tomorrow's health," as the Today's Touch tagline suggests.
"We want to educate people about why massage therapy is so beneficial to your body as well as to your mind and spirit." Bill says. "We offer services that you would find at a day spa, but at a more affordable cost. We provide an elegant, stress-free sanctuary where you can unwind and enjoy your experience."
Today's Touch offers relaxation massage therapy to reduce physical and mental stress as well as deep tissue massage for people with chronic pain and extreme tension.
Among the specialty therapies offered at Today's Touch are hot stone therapy, raindrop therapy, herbal body wraps, ionic detox foot spa session, aromatherapy massage, maternity massage and reflexology.
"A lot of customers call this their weekly vacation" Bill says. "It gives them a chance to forget about the world for an hour."
