Franklin Expands Downtown Business with Café, Spa

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – To accommodate his customers and the growing number of people coming downtown, Jerome Franklin is opening both a café and spa within the next two weeks.

“With the DoubleTree Hotel across the street it’s perfect,” Franklin says. “You have people coming in from out of town and a lot of people look for amenities when they’re choosing a hotel and that’s why I want to do this. I wanted to bring something we didn’t have downtown before.”

Franklin is the owner of Starting Lineup Barbershop and Beauty Salon at 47 Central Square, across the street from the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton.

On Monday he is opening the Smoothie Bar on Central Square with a ribbon cutting at noon, where free samples of his food will be served.

The Smoothie Bar will be in 1,100 square feet of space next to Franklin’s barbershop and will serve made-to-order paninis, soups, sandwich wraps, salads and fruit smoothies. The fruit smoothies can be made dairy-free and can include kale, spinach and other vegetables.

“We have a lot of variety of foods down here, but there’s not a lot of healthy options,” Franklin says. “It would be nice to have a light snack, a sandwich or something to drink before clients get a massage, manicure, pedicure or even before getting their haircut.”

Posters will hang on the walls inside The Smoothie Bar with nutritional facts printed on them about the ingredients in the smoothies being served.

“You can know what these products are that you’re eating and how they can help you live a longer life,” says Kimberlyn Hines, head of public relations for The Smoothie Bar.

Smoothies and food will be made to grab-and-go or to sit inside and eat.

“You can come hangout or have a meeting here,” says Hines, who adds that the space will offer free Wi-Fi for customers.

Franklin purchased the space next to his barbershop in February, along with 3,600 square feet of space in the basement of the building for his full-service spa, which will open in two weeks.

The spa, SLU Luxury Spa & Salon, will offer manicures, pedicures, facials and full-body massages. The entrance to the spa will be next to the barbershop entrance.

Franklin has hired 15 employees between the two new businesses and says he is still accepting applications.

Since moving the Starting Lineup Barbershop and Beauty Salon to downtown in April 2015, Franklin says business has been doing well.

“I’m fully committed to do my part to help regrow Youngstown as a whole,” he says. “There’s a lot of good things going on here, but we all have our own part to do to help Youngstown get back to where it was and even better.”

Pictured: Jerome Franklin, owner of Starting Lineup Barbershop and Beauty Salon, Smoothie Bar on Central Square and SLU Luxury Spa & Salon.

Copyright 2020 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.