Business Briefing: COVID leads massage advocate to adapt business
In business for 22 years, Candace Combs moved her In-Symmetry Spa to San Francisco's Mission Creek neighborhood 11 years ago.
One of the first merchants to open in the then-emerging residential neighborhood, Combs found a ground-floor space in a new mixed-use housing development on Florida Street to lease and transform into a tranquil setting for massage services and other treatments.As additional businesses opened in the area between the Mission district and Potrero Hill, Combs founded the Mission Creek Merchants Association to help foster connections among the new shop owners and advocate for their needs with various city officials and departments."We were among the first things here.
I could see how the neighborhood was changing," said Combs, 51, a lesbian and New Orleans native whose gay brother also now calls San Francisco home.While the spa's relocation didn't result in any drop-off in business, it did give Combs an education on the city's rigorous rules and conflicting stances about massage practitioners.
It was solely due to her "tenacity," said Combs, that she was able to navigate the headache-inducing permit process in less than five months so she could open the doors at her new address."Even to find out if I could do massage here was like an act of God.
