Even though Ben Gregoire, who owns the center, can legally offer his service, it's by appointment only -- his lobby is closed, and people aren’t sure he is open. The pandemic-related shutdown order, recently extended by Gov. Tim Walz, is having much the same effect as if he had to shut down completely. The center is located in the Riverwalk Center mall. The movie theater there is closed, and there is no walk-through traffic.
“It doesn’t matter, everybody thinks I’m closed anyway; nobody’s coming,” Gregoire told city leaders and state legislators at a meeting at East Grand Forks city hall on Dec. 9. “I’ve sold four gift cards this year. I normally sell over a hundred by now.”
Gregoire, a former Microsoft engineer, has owned the center for four years. It features sensory deprivation tanks filled with water and Epsom salts, which, along with the filtration system, eliminate the threat of spreading COVID-19. He became interested in them after having a back injury that required surgery. Floating on the water, he said, brings him relief, and provides an outlet to help with stress, anxiety and physical health problems. He decided to offer that experience to others. Much like another East Grand Forks business did, he’s asking the community for help by buying gift cards. Gregoire isn’t sure it will be enough, and he is worried about making his customers whole if he runs out of money.
“I don't want to necessarily sell a bunch of gift cards and then have to walk away, with everybody not being able to redeem everything if we have to close again,” Gregoire said. “I’m trying to do the right thing.”
Gregoire announced on social media that he would close two days before the city meeting. He’s missed out on over $40,000 in sales, he said, and the number of customers who have memberships there has plummeted, and the revenue he generates doesn’t cover costs. He received a grant from Polk County, but it doesn't cover his lost sales, and can’t satisfy loans -- the first ones he has had to take out -- to the city’s Economic Development Authority and U.S. Small Business Administration.
When Justin LaRocque, owner of East Grand Forks-based Spud Jr., heard Gregoire wanted to close, he decided to speak to him. LaRocque said the pandemic has been mentally exhausting for business owners, but encouraging words go a long way to helping him get through the next week.
“If I can help anybody else do the same thing I'm trying to do, I want to do it just for the sake of our community,” LaRocque told the Herald, and added the region has lost too many small businesses, even before the pandemic.
Justin Auch also encouraged Gregoire not to give up, when they ran into each other at the Urban Stampede coffee shop. Auch is a co-owner of the shop and runs the software company Also Creative Inc. The two know each other from Gregoire’s days as a Microsoft engineer.
Auch said he had gone through rough times in earlier days with his software company, and, if he had closed down, he would have been saddled with debt he couldn’t pay back. He told Gregiore the federal government may put together another aid package for small businesses, and closing down means not being able to take advantage of it.
“Getting through the rough patches really allowed me to turn things around,” Auch said. “I think the worst thing I possibly could have done was given up, so I just related that story.”
Gregoire said the feedback made him change his mind and he announced the decision on the float center’s social media page. To make the gift cards more attractive, he put together gift boxes with Bully Brew coffee mugs to give the feeling of receiving a present, instead of an envelope. Still, he doesn’t know if his plan will work and said that it’s “up to the public.”
“I'm not sure what else to do,” Gregoire said. “I can't keep spending way too much money; money that I don’t have.”
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Once set to close, Waves Float Center will stay the course - Grand Forks Herald
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