This Joliet massage therapist will give you a discount if you wear a MAGA hat - The Herald-News

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AP Photo/Butch Dill
Caption

Oliver Lester, of Montgomery, wears a hat with President President Donald Trump's campaign slogan as he watches results come in for Gov. Kay Ivey at a watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Montgomery, Ala.

Alex Ortiz - [email protected]
Caption

Lonnie Locke, a licensed massage therapist who owns and operates Band Aid Massage Therapy in Joliet, has some unique discount options as part of his marketing strategy.

Alex Ortiz - [email protected]
Caption

Band Aid Massage Therapy is located on Theodore Street in Joliet.

Politics can stress people out, but one Joliet massage therapist is trying to change that.

Lonnie Locke, a licensed massage therapist who owns and operates Band Aid Massage Therapy in Joliet, also has some unique discount options as part of his marketing strategy.

Ongoing deals include a discount for those who come into his doors with a "Make America Great Again" hat, made famous by President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign; the "hero's discount" for military and law enforcement personnel; and a discount for those with concealed carry licenses.

He was also offering free massages to anyone the partial federal government shutdown affected.

Locke opened Band Aid Massage Therapy last summer after years of experience in the massage industry. He began his career at Caterpillar's Joliet plant, but, after nearly 18 years there, he left in 2013 as he saw coworkers starting to lose their jobs.

So he went back to school to learn how to became a massage therapist. He said he loved it when he realized how much his work could help people.

After working at other massage parlors, he decided to open his own place on Theodore Street. While he has a business partner, Locke wears most of the hats.

He works with clients, cleans his space, painted the rooms, runs the publicity and social media and selects the music. And he takes pride in giving his clients their own personal time and attention and doing whatever they need to feel better.

"No spa can do what I can," Locke said. "When somebody gets off my table, they float out of here."

Despite Locke's unique discounts, you won't see much in terms of politics on the parlor's walls, unless you count his one coffee cup, which reads "I love when I wake up in the morning and Donald Trump is president."

Locke, a self-described news junkie, said he's frustrated with the state of political discourse. He is a staunch Trump supporter, especially on issues like immigration, but he also points to the human suffering he knows occurs in his line of work.

Locke referenced the problem of massage parlors getting into legal trouble for workers offering sex acts to clients. He said he's seen instances in which these workers were undocumented immigrants who were sex trafficked.

But even with such a political marketing strategy, Locke said he isn't afraid of backlash.

"I realized that people these days, they're in this constant state of moral outrage anyways," Locke said. "So you know what? Head first, that's the way I do everything."


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