Social “wellness clubs” services include things like infrared saunas, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, cryotherapy, chiropractor treatments, acupuncture, cupping, naturopathic medicine, and vitamin drips, among other remedies for what ails.
While city-based private social clubs have been around for centuries, most iterations tend to be inspired by London’s aristocrat-favored establishments like White’s, which lean stodgy and private, PSFK reported. It’s only recently in America that the social club has become a commercialized environment, one that’s more retail than royal.
As for when it started … there was the ill-fated Magnises “card” of Billy McFarland Fyre Festival fame that went up in flames, there were the multitude of clubs like the since-closed Norwood in New York City and others launched by reformed bankers for other bankers thinking about reforming but without the trust fund to cushion the leap, PSFK reported.
It was a simple recipe: people with disposable income and social media-fueled access to what everyone else was up to, PSFK reported. First came NeueHouse (with locations in New York and Los Angeles), then The Wing, Soho House as a publicly traded company in lower Manhattan.
The private club moved from the background to the forefront of talked-about culture, encompassing both lifestyle and professionalism and finding scalable success at the intersection of work, pleasure, and exclusivity, PSFK reported.
Now the members-only club is evolving once again, PSFK reported. Coming out of the pandemic, there is a deep-seated sense of consumers wanting to connect with each other, but in an environment where they feel protected and safe.
In order to provide a warm welcome back to socialization, increasingly popular “third places” focused on holistic programming and wellness services are popping up, PSFK reported. In contrast to the espresso martini and chandelier excess of the East Coast social club, these social “wellness clubs” are finding success by providing an alternative to alcohol that’s made up of spas, lounges, studios and event spaces designed to create communities out of customers with a shared interest in wellness.
Remedy Place in Los Angeles is one of those new wellness-focused spaces, PSFK reported. The club’s services include things like infrared saunas, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, cryotherapy, chiropractor treatments, acupuncture, cupping, naturopathic medicine, and vitamin drips, among other remedies for what ails. The space’s lounge offers chic mocktail happy hours for consumers who want to be social, but healthy.
These new third spaces are tapping into is a new awareness that people have around their bodies and being healthy, PSFK reported. Simultaneously, shoppers have been cooped up and there is a need now to be social. In response, retailers and brands are investing in consumers’ wellbeing, tailoring in-store services, experiences and product offerings to support mental, emotional and physical health, for those consumers trying to find and strike a productive balance.
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