06/01/2022
And just like that...
....our hearts are shattered into a million pieces.
Hey y’all.
The weight of this announcement is crushing, but due to a storm of circumstances beyond our control, we have made the monumentally difficult decision to close and sell Float Houston. This has felt like it’s been coming for a while but the current landlord has forced our hand and we will be closing the doors in a few weeks time. The sale will consist of a 15-year presence in the greater Houston area in various locations (consecutively, not concurrently). We have owned the business since 2017 and have successfully operated since 2019 in a less-than-ideal location to say the least. The clientele is stellar, but the building is in need of years of necessary repairs/replacements. We took over an existing massage space that had one float tank and moved our equipment in but removed massage. (Sidebar: knowing now what we didn’t know then, I would’ve kept massage, but hindsight and all that jazz, lol.)
We have done the best we could with a landlord who wasn’t a fan of modifications. It was a struggle to get approval to do any of the things that we felt necessary to live up to the experience we have been striving for. Meanwhile, a pandemic, several autoimmunes, and a broken leg added up to a pretty rocky time and lately my health has tanked. I’ve been trying (and failing miserably) to keep up with managing from afar. The recent round of economic challenges has hit Houston pretty hard, but we’re rebounding faster than we can keep up with. We cut our schedule to four days a week to deal with the slowdown the last few months, and now I’m unable to get back to work to open up the remaining days. It’s particularly bittersweet to get such glowing reviews and simultaneously feel like the end is in sight for us.
We had wanted to move closer to our home (the shop is an hour away from us) for some time, and originally had planned on seeking funding for a relocation. I got sicker and sicker until I was barely functioning, and it has held steady there since, in a raw and exhausting state. It’s been painfully obvious for a while now that we simply can’t continue and it’s not fair to the amazing guests we have to be sporadically available for services.
Meanwhile, the landlord sold the building and informed us a few days before February 1 by dropping off notice to write the rent check to a new owner. This new landlord has raised rents to astronomical levels, putting incredibly pressure on tenants to sign new leases at exorbitant rates. Pressure, alongside threats of lockouts if new terms aren’t agreed to. The risk of losing thousands and thousands in equipment due to a rash decision by a scorned landlord. Sorry if it’s rambling, but this is a lot to process. Float Houston has been my dream since the first time I got in a tank seeking my own pain relief and trauma healing.
Which leads us to here. With the threat of being locked out of our space we are moving it out over the next month. We have paid the landlord through the month of June (as we’re on a month to month) and informed him of our decision to leave. We will be floating those of you that have outstanding credits as much as possible between now and June 12, 2022. We will be using the last two weeks of the month to secure a storage facility for our beloved tanks and other equipment until we can find a new owner. Now we cross our fingers and hope that the landlord doesn’t fly off the handle and lock us out before we can get stuff out. Ugh, my heart is hurting so much. Along with my body. The stress of all of this has sent me into one flare after another, they’re all blurring into each other at this point. This just plain SUCKS.
So, if y’all know anyone looking for an amazing opportunity to serve a badass community lemme know. You can reach out to me for more information at info@FloatHouston.com. This community NEEDS this and I am not prepared to deliver it to them as of now. I am making a commitment to my health and making it my job to get better. WIth the way my body has trended in the last few years I have no choice but to do everything I possibly can NOW to turn it around. To say I’m heartbroken over all of this is a gross understatement. My dream of helping others achieve their best self is gone, my best self is so far away I wouldn’t even know what that looks or feels like, and I can’t even get in the VERY expensive equipment designed to help me achieve it. It all feels very unfair. The people I am disappointing is what is really breaking my heart. My AMAZING staff and the community we’ve served deserve a place to get the peace and healing that float can provide. I hope that someone can step in and find a way to do that.
I hold a flame of hope that one day we’ll find a way to do this again in some form or fashion. I know that I won’t be able to stay away from float and MUST find a tank to get in regularly. It pains me that it won’t be mine, but it is what it is at this point.
Ok, putting this out there so it can stop bouncing around in my supremely overtaxed brain and heart. Thank you for supporting us on this wild journey. I love each of you beyond measure.
~Forever salty,
Camcakes
XOXOXO
