Assisted stretching is making its mark as a new wellness business, and a local couple is behind the first Tri-City StretchLab franchise.

It’s the first entrepreneurial effort for Kelli Cowell and Elliott Zajac, who were bitten by the assisted stretching bug after Cowell learned about it on a work trip while still in the mortgage industry, her career for the last 25 years.

“I had that pinch between my shoulder blades, and I was talking to one of my coworkers about it, and I said, ‘I'm going to be on another six-hour flight home and it’s going to get worse; I better find a massage therapist,’” Cowell recalled. “And she goes, ‘Oh gosh, no, you’ve got to find a StretchLab.’ I said, ‘What the heck is a StretchLab?’ And then she just went on for the next 20 minutes about it.”

When Cowell got back to the Tri-Cities, she booked an assisted stretch at the nearest StretchLab – in the Spokane area. Cowell said she was sold after the first visit and told Zajac they needed to open one here. Zajac said he had the same skeptical response he’d expect from most people. “It took me a while to buy in on it because I was like, ‘Nobody's going to pay for somebody else to stretch them.’”

As a former college athlete at the University of Washington, Zajac remembered the experience of having athletic trainers stretch him and the healing benefits he felt, and they began looking into the process of opening a local site.

The Kennewick StretchLab adds to more than 400 studios in North America and over 900 locations around the world.

It’s located in the new complex built by the Eerkes family at 825 N. Edison St., Suite 170 in Kennewick, near the new Golf Universe location. The local tenant improvement for the space was valued at $75,000.

Cowell said she was drawn to the company’s status in the assisted stretching industry, where it’s been named a top new franchise, fastest growing franchise and top 500 franchise in Entrepreneur magazine.

“With heightened consumer awareness and demand in recovery for holistic wellness, StretchLab offers consumers more ways to reduce their risk of injury, regain mobility, improve flexibility and range of motion and reclaim their freedom,” the company says.

Cowell said this aligned with their vision. “We wanted something more. We wanted to be a staple in the community; we wanted to give back and make people's lives better. I wanted something more than, say, weights or lifting.”

The owners say assisted stretching is for “every body and everybody.” They have elite youth athletes signed up along with people in their 90s.

Pricing is on a membership basis and begins at $169 a month for a 25-minute stretch weekly. Cowell said the most popular package is a 50-minute stretch weekly, running $289 a month, and the frequency of the experience can go up from there.

The concept isn’t targeted toward a “one and done” approach but needs repeat visits to be most effective.

Compared to a massage, Cowell said stretching usually leaves you energized versus relaxed.

“We want to provide that longevity, better posture and better recovery,” Zajac said. “You’re stretching your muscles, and your muscles are changing over time.”

Because of this, memberships start at a three-month minimum. People can try it out with a free 25-minute introduction from StretchLab’s “flexologists” who have received 60 hours of training in assisted stretching.

There are nine flexologists on staff now, but the business is still hiring and hopes to get to 15 in all.

 The franchise buildout was led by Hummel Construction with TCT Computer Solutions assisting with IT and HAPO Community Credit Union for financing. The couple had additional support from Northwest CPA Group, Walker Heye attorneys and Rob Ellsworth with SVN Retter & Company.

StretchLab will offer some brands in its retail space not typically found in the Tri-Cities, including lululemon, Tavi, Spiritual Gangster, Glyder, ALO and Beyond Yoga.

StretchLab Tri-Cities: 825 N. Edison St., Suite 170, Kennewick; 509-516-1230; stretchlab.com/location/tricities.