Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Some questions are hard to answer, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s fun to try to find answers anyway.
This week, Ashkahn and Graham tackle the question, “How many float centers are there in the USA?” While the amount is constantly changing, their attempt to pin down a number opens up a fun discussion about the recent growth of the float industry.
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: So, today’s question is, how many float centers are there in the country? Which I assume, means the United States.
Ashkahn: I feel like pretty much all our episodes start off with us saying that we really don’t actually have a good idea of what we’re talking about.
Graham: I mean, all of our episodes so far have started that way.
Ashkahn: So, we don’t really know. We don’t really know how many float centers there are. I guess, first thing we should clarify is what counts as a float center?
Graham: Also, nor does anyone.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: It’s not just us, I actually think there’s not a single person that could give you a totally accurate count of float centers in the United States.
Ashkahn: Maybe the government, you know?
Graham: Definitely not the government, there’s ten, there’s ten float centers out there.
Ashkahn: So, what counts as a float center, I think is the first thing we need to answer for this.
Graham: I would say anything that’s open, available commercially to the public, right? If it’s a float tank in someone’s house, that doesn’t count unless they’re also running paid floats out of there.
Ashkahn: So, maybe we should just say our best guesses at the same time.
Graham: Okay.
Ashkahn: You ready? One,
Graham: Two,
Ashkahn: Three … 350.
Graham: 500.
Ashkahn: 500?
Graham: Oh no, sorry, I was thinking of the U.S. and Canada, I was thinking of U.S. and Canada. I was thinking of U.S. and Canada. Okay, ready to do it again for realsies this time?
Ashkahn: Okay. One, two, three.
Graham: 483.
Ashkahn: 83? You think there’s 13 float centers in Canada?
Graham: Sorry. I wanted to say 383, I just got excited. It think there’s above 350. I think there’s somewhere …
Ashkahn: Like, 400.
Graham: 383 is my guess.
Ashkahn: 383, okay. Yeah, 350 to 400 is my best guess. But I don’t know, I mean it’s …
Graham: I did a really bad job there of the guessing game. Immediately forget what we were guessing about. Okay, bringing it back in.
Ashkahn: I mean, it’s hard to know what these numbers are from the past, as well. When we started up in 2010, I had the feeling that there was like 80 places across the U.S., maybe a 100. But a lot of those, when you actually looked at them, were a float tank that was a part of a much bigger spa, or a float tank in someone’s apartment. Or when you’re actually thinking of a business on a retail street that has four, a number of float tanks, stuff like that. There was just a small handful back then.
Graham: When we opened in 2010, we do know the number of 4-tank centers that there were in the United States, and it was nothing bigger than that. In the U.S., right? So there was four, 4-tank centers, is that right?
Ashkahn: Um so, there was us, there was …
Graham: Use the word know loosely here.
Ashkahn: Kinda know. Maybe I’ll count off and we can take our guesses at the same time.
Graham: 383.
Ashkahn: There was TrueRest, there was iFloat in Connecticut, and Space Time.
Graham: And then we opened up.
Ashkahn: Yep.
Graham: And so yeah, when we popped up, we were the fourth 4-tank center.
Ashkahn: I believe so.
Graham: And the other two had only opened within a year prior to us. So if you were taking 2008 numbers, then that would be only be Space Time tanks that had four tanks.
Ashkahn: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Graham: So, fast forward to now, I still have no idea how many four tank centers there are.
Ashkahn: No, it’s hard to count now.
Graham: But it doesn’t take a lot to realize that there are a lot. I mean, they’re popping up all over the place, and much bigger centers too. Six tanks, seven tanks, eight tanks.
Ashkahn: 11 tanks.
Graham: Yeah, they’re getting really big. And that number I think, is almost more interesting to look at too. If you look at the industry report from Float Tank Solutions, you’ll see from 2016, that that number of new centers who want to start with more tanks is only going up too. It’s kind of turning from what may be used to be more of this cottage enterprise with a tank and a spa or a tank in a house, and we’re counting those as float centers too. Now, if you’re opening a float center, it means you’re opening a three to six tank kind of big deal, and oftentimes five or six tanks too.
Ashkahn: Yeah, even just like depending on when you’re listening to this episode, if it’s been a year since we recorded this, these numbers are probably wrong at this point. Everything’s growing at a really tremendous rate. It’s hard to keep up and really have a good finger on the pulse when everything’s changing so quickly.
Graham: All right guys, hope you enjoyed our meandering through today’s question and we’ll see you tomorrow.
Ashkahn: Chicka boom.
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Graham and Ashkahn share their thoughts on psychedelics and floating and how, as a business, they can be completely separated while still being important, as well as explaining why some people might reasonably decide to disassociate from them.
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Latest Blog Posts
The Basics of Float Tank Sanitation
Some of the most common questions you’ll get as a float center operator involve the cleanliness of the tanks. This post will be an introduction to some of the most commonplace sanitation methods used in float tanks. These are generally either chemicals that go in the water or devices that attach to your filtration system. We’ll be discussing chlorine, bromine, ozone, UV, and hydrogen peroxide, which accounts for the sanitation methods used on nearly every float tank on the market.
Testing and Maintaining Float Tank Water Quality
Editors Note: This is a revision of a past blog post, updated to reflect the most current sanitation methods and standards
In a perfect world, you could just pour water and salt into a float tank and it would stay pure and clean and fresh and salty forever. In the real world, conditions in the water are constantly changing, so keeping your water safe and clean takes a fair amount of vigilance.
This post covers how we maintain basic water quality in the float tank, except for sanitization methods, which will be covered in their own beastly sanitation blog post. Stay tuned for that coming out next week!
Floating, mental health, and wellness
This post will explore the intersection of floating with the concepts, beliefs, and experiences related to mental health and wellness, with a focus on anxiety and depression. I’ll explore my own story as it relates to floating before diving into the current intersections of floating and mental health, with a look at past, current, and potential opportunities for research and personal growth.
Massage, Acupuncture, and Float Tanks… A Chat with Sandra Calm
We’ve seen lots of float centers that aren’t just float centers.
Many have massage, some offer counseling, some have yoga classes next door. Lots of people start out either by incorporating float tanks into a larger business, or with float tanks only being one of many modalities at their center. Being specialists in floating, Float On has not mastered anything else.
So, to help gain insight into this growing aspect of the industry, we contacted our old friend, Sandra Calm. She started up The Float Shoppe here in Portland with her husband and podcast sensation, Dylan Calm, back in 2011. When they first opened, they had just two float tanks, and slowly added acupuncture, massage, counseling, along with two more tanks. Talk about expansion!
She was more than happy to take some time for the industry to help us understand just what it’s like to run a center with multiple services by answering some questions.
