Hi Mike! Please introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m Mike Kaplan. I grew up in Highland Park and I now live in Gurnee with my family.
You’re a dad, how many kids do you have and how old are they?
I have 3 kids – a 16-year-old daughter, a 12-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter!
Please introduce your business endeavor, North Shore Salt Therapy Center.
North Shore Salt Therapy Center is a Himalayan salt room/”salt cave” that I opened exactly three years ago this month! I was a customer at one when I lived in Florida. Living here I felt that the North Shore needed to have this resource. You come here to just destress or for the anti-inflamatory effects.
That is quite a niche! What is Salt Therapy?
Salt therapy is a natural and non-invasive therapy that can help relieve the symptoms of a wide range of respiratory and skin conditions. Salt is a natural anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antihistamine, so people experiencing everything from asthma to eczema may experience significant and lasting symptom relief following regular salt therapy.
How many salt rooms do you have? Do children attend?
We have two salt rooms, one for adults only and one for children accompanied with adults. We see children with skin issues, asthma, etc. The kids love it. We have beach toys and salt rocks to play with.
How has your business been impacted by COVID 19?
Obviously things drastically slowed down with quarantine. We were, indeed, open a little bit during the quarantine to folks with a dr.’s prescription for alternative and natural respiratory therapy. Now, in “Phase 3” of business operating guidelines, we are open to the public but at a limited capacity as one would expect.
What would you like people to know about North Shore Salt Therapy Center as you work with your teams to reopen?
I would like people to know that we keep our facility sanitized and clean. In fact, the salt in the rooms actually kills viruses, bacteria and is self-sanitizing. We are still taking precautions as outlined by the CDC. Currently, we do not allow people into the salt rooms who don’t know each other. Everyone must wear mask before entering the room but once in the salt room they can take the mask off. We have masks for sale at the facility with 20% of the proceeds going to the Moraine Township food bank.
Our salt rooms are and have always been a very sterile and clean environment. Our doors have been open for three years and we’ve always taken care of cleaning and sanitizing, something that has always been very important for us.
Who are your business mentors (feel free to to give any shout outs)?
Randy Opper! He’s been a great friend for over 20 years. He has guided me in the business world since I started working for him when I was just 20 years old.
What’s else for North Shore Salt Therapy Center? Any deals going on right now?
Yes! We hope you’ll come try us out! Right now we’re offering $19/person sessions for new and existing clients! Plus, we carry a wide variety of Himalayan salt lamps and Himalayan salt figurines – we even carry the gray and white ones that are harder to find. An addition to the typical rock carved lamps, we carry animals and sports themed salt lamps. All of our salt lamps are on sale with 25% off AND include one free session! I mentioned this already but we have face masks for sale right now, too. 20% of the proceeds will go to the Moraine Township Food Pantry so it’s a great fundraiser and we are so proud to give back to our community.
Awesome deal. It sounds like it’s a great time to try this out. What are the health benefits of having salt lamps in the home?
Salt lamps help to spread the negative ions into the air which acts as a type of air purifier, cleaner air. This is the natural form of the negative ions fans that were popular in the early 2000’s.
If you’d like more information on North Shore Salt Therapy Center, call (847) 780-8200 or email