Five Years at Ashland Home Center

Joel and Jenny Jessee of Ashland Home Center—Appliance and Mattress will soon be celebrating five years in business at their store located at 1401 Siskiyou (above Papa Murphy's). Joel is passionate about his focus on customer service while providing chain store pricing to the local Ashland market.

"We have the same product and price as any competitors, along with state-of-the-art financing programs," Joel said. "The advantage to buying local is consistent with Ashland's determination to develop and sustain an exceptional quality of life. Every dollar spent at a small local business circulates into the community four times more than sending the money out of town via a Big Box store. You don't need to leave town to find a great deal."

Joel is third generation in his family business. "My grandfather started in retail in 1955," he said. "He sold his appliance business in California and moved to southern Oregon, where he opened and operated an appliance parts supply business in Medford. In 1987 my dad started a retail appliance business in Grants Pass. I grew up learning that people, not price and product, make the difference. My grandfather and father knew the owners of Courtesy Appliance in Ashland, and after Bill and Millie closed, there were no more options to buy appliances in Ashland. We felt it was the right thing for my family to expand our business here in this wonderful, supportive community."

Ashland Home Center offers a wide variety of appliances, from dishwashers and refrigerators to stoves, washers, dryers, freezers and more. They demonstrate all of the top-name brands. They provide free delivery and can have it in your house, installed, as soon as the same or next day.

Joel also considers himself a "sleep specialist," as the store stocks a great selection of top-name mattresses.

"I've studied the science and have come to know healthy sleep," he said. "I've researched mattress brands and manufacturing standards, and choose to represent those that are the best in sleep technology: NATURAL LATEX. Besides optimum physical rest, the health benefits are second-to-none by eliminating VOC chemicals that exist in memory foam. You can feel the support while still obtaining pressure relief."

Ashland Home Center repairs all major appliances and represent manufacturer warranties. The support after the sale is their unique trademark.

Joel's family has lived in southern Oregon since 1980, while Jenny grew up in Hillsboro, Oregon, and moved here after she and Joel were married in 1999. They have four children.

"We love working with the Ashland community," Joel said. "Our whole focus is providing high quality customer service, combined with the lowest prices in southern Oregon."

For more info, the phone number is 541-488-4700. webpage: ashlandhomecenter.com or like them on Facebook. The store is open Monday through Saturday.

Results-Oriented Approach at Siskiyou Massage Clinic

Before moving to Ashland in 2004 from Colorado, Philip Whitmore, owner of Siskiyou Massage Clinic at 246 4th Street (across from the Peerless), had already received more than three times the training as an orthopedic/medical massage practitioner than was required in Oregon.

"I had great teachers and I was very motivated to learn from them," Philip said. "I also had a busy massage practice in Boulder before I left."

At that time, many of my friends were of the mindset to find a new place to call home. I would guess that 30-40 of us moved to Oregon, everywhere from Ashland to Williams and Portland. One of my friends moved out here a year after I did, and I eventually convinced her to marry me ... that was good. She had an amazing daughter already, and now we have one more little one together."

Philip soon leased a space at the new Morningstar Healing Arts building and became quite busy.

"It wasn't an ideal situation," he said. "Due to my schedule being full, I was not able to see new clients and I was not able to work with injured clients. There was a large population in Ashland who were having a difficult time finding the kind of bodywork they were looking for."

Thus was born the Siskiyou Massage Clinic in March 2009.

"I created an environment and opportunity to attract the best therapists in the valley to work out of one location," Philip said. "We literally have a century of experience and have worked with thousands of clients. We see ourselves as part of our clients' health care team."

The goal at Siskiyou Massage is to provide the community with high quality, results-oriented massage therapy.

"Some clients come to us for relaxation while many others come with a particular goal in mind, such as overcoming pain or a postural imbalance," Philip said. "We keep in close communication with referring healthcare practitioners, sending them regular status reports and making the process of receiving prescriptions very easy for our clients."

With so many experienced therapists on staff, the list of modalities offered is long, from deep tissue relaxation and sports massage to pre- and post-natal, myofascial release, and Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques.

"We have an environment where we encourage our clients to stay with same therapist for as long as they like, or to try different therapists," Philip said. "We keep detailed chart notes so that the care is contiguous whether their favorite therapist moves away or they just want to try someone new."

For more information or to set up an appointment, call 541-488-6757. You can also visit their website at SiskiyouMassage.com and/or "like" them on Facebook.

Ayurvedic Influences at Gopi Retail Store

Lavanya Kruger's retail store, Gopi (509 Siskiyou) may have opened in the spring of 2010, but her online herbal supplement company has been manufacturing and providing for many health care professionals and retail customers for over 30 years.

Gopi provides an assortment of clothing, jewelry, house decor, and spiritual items, all with an Eastern Indian influence.

"Growing up in a family with Eastern Indian spiritual values and learning the importance of a happy mind, body and spirit, has helped me with my spiritual growth and made we want to share this influence with the world," Lavanya said. "I believe taking care of the body and feeling beautiful inside and out allows us to feel more connected with ourselves and brings confidence to succeed in all areas of life."

Lavanya moved to Oregon from Australia in 1989 and lived on the Umpqua River and Eugene for ten years.

"I came to Ashland in 1995 because after being raised on the beaches of Hawaii and Australia, I came to love the relaxed island vibe. Ashland has a similar island feeling, and last but not least, I could feel the consciousness and community awareness."

At Gopi, Lavanya provides a space for people to feel connected with their higher selves while helping them find things that make them feel good.

"That can be a nice dress, a wall hanging or Ayurvedic herbal supplements to help with any medical issues they may need to address," she said. "Our herbal supplements are manufactured on the premises. We also offer personal Ayurvedic diet consultations and provide free samples of 26 of our herbal jams. We try to be conscious of where we purchase our products and buy from local vendors, traveling vendors and local organic suppliers."

Lavanya invites everyone to stop by and check out their collection of unique items and to experience their locally-made Ayurvedic products. "We have something for everyone," she said.

New Facebook Page for Sneak Preview Ashland

In a late-breaking news item, we learned that Sneak Preview Ashland has recently upgraded its Facebook page. When cornered at a local pub downing a growler, Editor Curtis Hayden was spotted leaning over his iPad, intently searching for something interesting.
"What'cha doin'?" asked his newly hired social media director.
"Just looking for all those pictures from Yellowstone last summer so that I can download them onto Facebook."
"Uh, no," she said. "That's not what we're doing here. People will start unfriending you in droves if you do that."
"What do you mean?" he asked, scrolling to one in particular. "Here's one with me standing in front of Old Faithful."
"Makes no difference," she said. "We're only going to post timely information, like important notices or upcoming events or interesting things from the last issue or information about our advertisers."
He looked crestfallen. "Here's one of me in the woods with a grizzly."
She looked at the iPad. "You photoshopped that bear in. That's gross."
Readers who do the Facebook thingie can "like" us at Sneak Preview Ashland. We promise not to bombard you with notifications every three hours.The phone number is 541-292-4273. The online business phone is 541-944-7243. The website is sneakpre.com, and you can "like" them on Facebook.