For nearly 20 years, people have been able to count on Martha’s Place in Columbia to release all of their physical and mental tension.
Martha’s Place offers massage therapy, facelift facial massage, full-body vibration massage, warm-wax therapy, Ashiatsu and so much more. It also recently added a salt booth, which helps with breathing.
“We do a lot of range of motion and trigger-point therapeutic massage,” owner Martha Dement said. “But if people want a relaxing massage, we do that also. Some people come just for massage only, and some come to relax and spend half a day here.”
Martha’s Place has been located in the Marion County BusinessPlex for six years and has been open in Columbia for 18 years. It started out on Main Street and moved a couple of times to bigger locations.
Dement (#678) is joined by massage therapists Nikki Turnage (#2378), Lynette Woodward (#2379) and Sarah Ardis (#1174), who is also a registered nurse.
Dement said she believes the customer service at Martha’s Place is what has allowed the business to be successful and continue to grow.
“We go out of our way to be helpful if somebody is in pain,” she said. “Our customer service and truly caring about the people is important to us.”
Martha’s Place has been able to expand since moving to 137 Partnership Way because it has allowed for more parking than it had downtown and far more specialized massage therapies.
“We have several different rooms so we were able to add more services, and I was able to add the other girls,” Dement said. “I used to just work by myself. Having the other girls helps a lot.”
After getting her first massage, Dement actually changed careers to become a massage therapist herself. She was working in a plastics factory in Hattiesburg, and one day she couldn’t even raise her arms because she was in too much pain. She wasn’t in search of a massage, but there just so happened to be a business expo across the street and she was perusing through. She spotted a massage therapist there who was offering massages for a dollar a minute. She had $4 in her pocket and figured why not give it a chance. The massage therapist was able to work out a spot that was killing her, and she said it felt like magic to her.
The therapist recommended Dement get an actual massage so she did, and a year later she went to massage school.
“It can be life changing,” she said. “It can help if somebody can’t do their job or can’t turn their head to look in traffic because they have a crick in their neck. We can relieve that so they can go back to work. That to me is the amazing part of it, watching them get better.”
Dement said there has been a slowdown because of the pandemic after being forced to shut down for nearly two months with many of Martha’s Place’s clients being older, but the business is picking back up.
Martha’s Place is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and can be available after hours. It can be reached at (601) 444-0040.
Dement thanks her customers and said without them, Martha’s Place wouldn’t be here.
“I greatly appreciate them,” she said. “They have really become more like family than just clients because some have been with me for 18 years. It’s a blessing to me that they keep coming back.”
