Relax The Back will be opening its first DMV location at 1701 Rockville Pike A5 in the Shops at Congressional shopping center. It will be taking over the spot that was previously home to a similar business — the Healthy Back store, which shut down its website/operations in September 2023.
Relax the Back provides education and products aiding in the relief and prevention of back pain. The store offers zero-gravity recliners, Tempur-Pedic mattresses, pillows, office chairs, massage chairs, lumbar supports, exercise balls, and inversion tables. An opening date for the store, which will be the DMV’s first, is not yet available, but should be soon. An additional DMV location is coming to 11058 Main Street, Rt. 29 (Lee Highway) in Fairfax.
The first Relax The Back store made its debut in Austin, Texas, in 1984. By 1987, entrepreneur Virginia Rogers took ownership of the original store and transformed the business into a franchise format. The first franchise emerged in San Antonio in 1989, spearheaded by Coby Dietrick, a former professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs. In 1996, after successfully expanding the chain to 59 stores, Rogers sold the company for $6 million to a franchisee named Dairl Johnson. Under Johnson’s leadership, the company’s independent franchising model continued to evolve. As of now, Relax The Back’s corporate offices are situated in Long Beach, California.
The Healthy Back store, which was previously in the location, was also a chain of stores centered in Maryland and Virginia that sold products aimed at helping people with back pain or other physical conditions. The company stated on its website www.healthyback.com that it is out of business as of September 20, 2023. The company was founded by Anthony Mazlish in 1994 in Rockville, Maryland after he suffered a back injury and found there was an open niche for a specialty back retailer.