Barefoot Oasis

Engineering is a far cry from reflexology and massage. But after a few beers, even the most unlikely ideas can actually pan out and go on to succeed. Such is the case with college buddies, Alex Mumm and Johnny Xu, and Alex’s wife Snow Shi.  The two budding entrepreneurs met while studying engineering at BCIT.  After graduating with his degree, Alex went on to work for a few months in HVAC design, and as an assistant instructor at his alma mater. “I just found that the day-to-day work just wasn’t really challenging enough,” he admits. “I knew I wanted to work with Johnny, we just didn’t know what.”

Then, in passing, Snow mentioned how expensive and time consuming it was for her to go back and forth from their downtown home to Richmond for her weekly massages or a reflexology treatment. “I kept complaining that there wasn’t a reasonably affordable spa in the West End,” Snow notes. “In China, it’s very common to go regularly for foot reflexology, and it isn’t expensive.”

On an evening when the friends met up for beers, the conversation shifted to the possibility of opening a reasonably-priced day spa. “We explored a few ideas, even the idea of a distillery and/or a restaurant,” says Alex, who grew up with visionary parents on an organic farm in Saskatchewan, long before organic was a popular concept. “We started discussing a spa and began thinking that maybe this was doable.”