New in Town: East Lansing gains store for zen and wellness on Grand River

Longtime East Lansing massage business Massage and Wellness expanded last week into a 2,000-square-foot operation, adding a store with local and fair trade artisan goods.

Owner Allan Glanz said the expansion adds more goods for students and residents to relax and restore from stress. The store has an assortment of low-lit salt lamps, scented candles, massage oils and soaps.

“We are all about well-being. Over the months, it turned into some local products and some fair trade global products,” Glanz said. “But we want things to be affordable. We want people to be able to give a gift to a sorority sister or something.”

Glanz said he went for an industrial aesthetic with more rustic products. “When you think Michigan, you think of cabins and cottages. That is part of our well-being here.”

One of his fair-trade pieces is an organic shea butter made by a Michigan State University professor with part of the proceeds going to build an orphanage in Ghana, Glanz added.

“We’ve got walls so far,” he said.

A stone’s throw from the shea butter sees journals marketed to where someone can jot down their unsavory thoughts and lock them in a box.  “Some of it is just fun. Some of it is just irreverent. But humor is part of well-being,” he said.

Glanz got into the massage and wellness business after receiving massages after swimming in Hawaii.

“I actually went to engineering school with a mechanical engineering degree from Western. I then segued into software, talked to a massage therapist and got my certification in 2004.”

The space next door had been vacant for a year and Glanz said he looked to expand. Massage and Wellness had to leave its previous location for the Micro Target that opened on Grand River in July.

“As far as I know, no massage place has done this before in Lansing. You’ll see a little rack with products at most, but not a store.”

Glanz also stocks CBD products like tinctures, gummies and massage creams. “When you hear the stories about animals with arthritis being able to walk well again, I don’t think it can be a placebo effect.” 

He plans to offer deals for both sides of his business with 10% off anything in the store with a massage and 10% off a massage or facial with a sufficient purchase from the store. 

A door to access both sections without walking outside is in the works, he added.

Among the fair trade products is also a focus on Himalayan goods with salts, prayer flags and candles. The multicolored Himalayan prayer flags on a ribbon are most often seen at the base camps of Mt. Everest.

Glanz keeps a portrait of his mom in the new store as well. He said she was a big influence on the development of his holistic lifestyle.

“Back when I was a kid, she was told she needed back surgery. Chiropractors were voodoo back then and she came to the holistic mindset because she never needed back surgery,” Glanz said. “We have inscribed around the photo something she believed: ‘Worry about nothing, pray about everything.’”

Massage & Wellness

Daily, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

541 E. Grand River Ave #5, East Lansing

(517) 203-1113, massageandwellnessonline.com