Building the Truth.
Photo | Brad Kane
Julie Bovenzi, owner, Truth., North Grafton
Last year, Julie Bovenzi bought the former Grafton lodge of the Massachusetts Freemasons on Route 140, looking to accommodate her growing organic spa.
When did you move?
The day after Christmas, the moving trucks came at 8 a.m. at the old location on Worcester Street. By noon here, we took our first client.
Everybody that works here was running around like crazy.
They all said I should have closed for the day, but it is so hard for me to cancel on a client.
Why did you leave the old location?
We were bursting at the seams. I could have hired five more people just to go through the waiting list on a Saturday.
Why did you choose this building?
I feel like I am where I am supposed to be. The energy of this place is so perfect.
It used to be the Masonic lodge, and when I looked up the Masons, it said the foundation of the organization is truth. Of course, my business name is Truth.
There were three people looking to buy this building, and I wrote the Masons a letter about what I wanted to do and about my charitable work for the community, which is a lot of what they do.
I didn’t have the highest offer, but they chose me anyway.
How much did you pay for it?
The purchase price was $399,000, which is amazing. It is the most solid building and was wide open. All I had to add was the walls, the air conditioning and a few minor things. I spent about $250,000 in the renovation.
We had our grand opening party in January. Many more people said they would have come in, but they couldn’t find a parking spot.
What was it like moving your business?
When I look back on the past year and a half, I just am totally amazed at what I was able to do. I had a vision of what I wanted, and I was like a lawyer going through all the plans and all the planning approvals to make sure it came out exactly like I envisioned.
My intuition guides me, how I feel about things. I don’t do things the way normal business people are doing it. But it is working, and it makes me feel just amazing.
What makes you different from normal business people?
I run away from the books, the figures; and I really just want to be with clients and people. When I look at other business people, I feel like they have all been to school and have the right formula. I am still looking for the right formula. I navigate with my feelings.
If you Google “organic spa” your business is the first link.
We are the first organic spa ever in Massachusetts, since we opened in 2006.
We are organic right down to our sheets. Every product we use on people is clean, natural and organic.
I was pregnant 23 years ago with my daughter, and that is when I went organic with my esthetician products. I essentially was making my own products for myself, but at work I was selling products with all these chemicals. I decided then I wanted to create a place where I had done all the work on researching products, so people could come in and know everything they were getting is natural.
Truth is the name because I don’t like deception, and there is a lot of deception in the world, especially in the marketing of products.
Do you have plans to expand beyond this building?
Right next door is a church. It is a blessing right now because the Town of Grafton is renovating its library and they have moved the library temporarily to that church. It is going to be there for 17 months.
I want to buy that church, to maybe put a pool in there or a chiropractor or an acupuncturist. Maybe a naturopathic doctor or a nutritionist.
I have had this dream of creating a health mall since I was a little girl, and that dream is sitting right next door in that church, with the library in it. It is a beautiful building inside.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Editor Brad Kane.
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