Poplar Creek Spa and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce will host a Grand Re-Opening and Ribbon Cutting on Tuesday, Nov. 9, from 5-8 p.m. The event will include tours of the new location, prizes and specials, holiday gift sales, light refreshments and a ribbon cutting at 5:30 p.m. 

"Emerging successfully from the 2020 pandemic shutdown, owner Emily Simmons dreamed of moving her 10-year-old business to a new location," officials said. "Intent on staying on Main Street in Ooltewah, Simmons and her agent, Jeff Billington of Hunt & Nest Homesellers, scoured the listings of available properties. None were just right. Loyal to the City of Collegedale and the spa’s long-time, local clientele, Simmons waited for the right location.

"Nearly a year later, a listing for the La Collina Business Park on Apison Pike appeared."

“This one isn’t exactly where I envisioned, but it’s interesting enough to look at,” Ms. Simmons wrote to Mr. Billington. They toured it the next day.

“I fell in love. The natural lighting, Tuscan-style architecture, high-end finishing touches and small-group event room made it a better space than I ever imagined finding,” Ms. Simmons says. “I could easily envision my business here.”

The move and a little buildout construction in the new location required the spa to close for three weeks, but the reaction from longtime clients when they first saw the new location made it all worth it.

Ms. Simmons says the pandemic shutdown strengthened her commitment to her team, their clients and her vision for the spa - to become the area’s first full wellness spa, with a variety of services to enhance wellness of all kinds. 

Building on the foundation of massage therapy, every category of services added to the spa’s menu over the years has been to that end: 

- A membership program to facilitate regular maintenance visits;

- Aesthetics to enhance skin health and help clients feel good in their skin;

- Acupuncture to treat chronic pain and hormone imbalance; and

- Life coaching to help clients reach a goal or make a smooth life transition.

Now, the event space overlooking White Oak Mountain means they’ve added yoga classes to help manage stress and maintain physical well being. 

Ms. Simmons, a massage therapist for 24 years with a degree in wellness management, grew Poplar Creek Spa out of her home-based massage practice. In 2012 Ms. Simmons and her husband purchased a friendly competitor known as Body Mechanics, a massage clinic founded in Ooltewah in 2005. Poplar Creek Spa’s name pays homage to their original location on a property surrounded by poplar trees with a creek running through it, as well as Ms. Simmons’s value of nature. With an emphasis on all-natural products and services, Poplar Creek Spa strives to minimize their environmental footprint.