Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason and Tera Starr.
Hi Jason and Tera, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We met in 2005 while working for the same company. We both worked for a national retailer and were fortunate to both have experienced a variety of roles and business functions over our 18+ years there. Prior to Jason leaving that company we’d opened a men’s wellness facility with a physician partner. About a year later Jason left to pursue expansion of this business, called “Men’s T Clinic” where we now have 5 locations in the greater Houston area. This business has taught us a great deal and in many ways helped us steer our efforts in creating Treadwell. Providing compassionate, high quality care to what we believe is an under-served segment (men) can be rewarding on many levels.
We believe when you look and feel your best, the world responds in-kind. People are working harder than ever juggling careers, parenting, and community engagements. We know that time is golden and practicality is paramount, because life stacks up and priorities shift. We want to create the kind of comprehensive resource we’ve been searching for — one that acknowledges the real need to take care of ourselves, while respecting the time we’re willing to devote to it.
There are many options where women can go enjoy a relaxing self-care regiment. For men, these options are more limited. Upon entering our space, one will quickly notice we are different than other places a guy may go to get a haircut. For starters, we don’t overplay the man theme at Treadwell, and while we’re setup for men on the hair & grooming side, we have many women who enjoy coming to Treadwell for IV therapy of to relax in our infrared sauna. The space itself is impeccably kept and thoughtfully partitioned, blending the communal warmth of a barbershop with the privacy and serenity of a spa.
We also believe in hiring great people and taking great care of them. We are proud of our team and the skill level of our best-in-class stylists and barbers.
We have two young boys and two dogs. We live in the Heights and are actively involved in our community where Jason serves as president of the Houston Heights Association.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being a start-up and the first of this kind of concept anywhere can be daunting. As we were moving from the conceptual phase to the design phase Houston was still fairly locked down due to Covid. At that time there was more uncertainty as to how things would play out. Site selection, lease negotiations, and build-out of our spaces took longer than we anticipated. In some ways this was a blessing in that had we opened a year earlier we’d have experienced much more turbulence to the pandemic.
As every entrepreneur knows there is no shortage of regulatory requirements when opening a business. This is especially true when blending concepts that requires medical supervision.
We are selective about who we bring into the organization. We want the perfect blend of skill as well as those who will be good stewards of our brand. We have been very fortunate to hire some great stylist/barbers, but we need more!
Since we are the first of this kind and offer a variety of services, it has been difficult for people to find us and know what we do. With a fixed advertising budget we have to prioritize where to put our dollars and which services to promote digitally. As with any new business it takes some time for the digital and social marketing efforts to materialize and so far we are pleased with how our first location has ramped after being open just 7 months. We are only a few months into our second location and are focused on driving awareness around Bellaire and West University.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Treadwell?
On the grooming side we offer men’s haircuts, beard trims, shaves, as well as manicures & pedicures. For haircuts we have a couple different service options though both include a consultation and a precision haircut followed by a shampoo and conditioning scalp massage in our spa room. Our wellness services include IV Vitamin Therapy, intramuscular injections, cryotherapy, infrared sauna, and red light therapy.
We have membership options that are very customizable to meet the unique needs one may have. This provides our members savings without having to pay membership prices for services they do not want.
We strive for aspirational yet attainable, and our pricing is competitive to what is currently out there for men’s grooming. For Vitamin IV Therapy we are very confident in the value we provide. Based on competitive analysis and working with our medical director, we strive for unmatched value and high efficacy.
Contact Info:
- Website: Treadwell.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/goforth_treadwell
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/goforthtreadwell
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/Treadwell_men
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCJ4QIRhKXKViGWQi9dsk2WQ
