“A little world of health and wellness”: The Brace Shop opens in Port Melbourne
After operating his family business out of Abbotsford for 35 years, Erez Baron has brought Melbourne’s best sports and medical goods retail service to Port Melbourne, right on Southbank’s doorstep.
As one of Australia’s leading sports medical suppliers, The Brace Shop – the retail interface for the Bodyassist brand of sports medical and health products – has everything one needs to help sustain a healthy and active lifestyle.
Described by Mr Baron as a “feel good” business, The Brace Shop prides itself on offering “old fashioned service” and providing a physical location for anyone wishing to get professionally fitted for any of its high-quality medical health products.
For any Southbankers recovering from an injury or dealing with any pain or discomfort preventing them from staying active, Mr Baron said the store, located at 269 Williamstown Rd, was likely to have a product to help you “fix it”.
This could range from knee or back braces, moon boots and recovery shoes, mouthguards and head protection, compression socks and tapes, spinal cushions and back rests, postpartum products and its top selling “Squatty Potty”, skincare and jewellery and everything in between.
“We live by the phrase ‘we won’t tell you what’s wrong, we’ll tell you how to fix it,” Mr Baron told Southbank News. “That’s really the basis of what we’re doing here. We’re not trying to cure anyone because we’re not a medical clinic, but we will certainly provide products that make people feel less pain, and more comfort.”
Having started his career in the IT sector in the early ‘80s, the 67-year-old Mr Baron said he eventually found his way into the sports medical industry and since starting his own business previously based on Hoddle St, he’s never looked back.
Today, the brand distributes to around 3000 outlets and pharmacies across the country, including through Chemist Warehouse, and offers a strong online retail service to its customers.
But in always priding itself as a strong, direct-to-customer business, Mr Baron said The Brace Shop was an ideal avenue for local customers to come in and enjoy a more personalised service.
“Retail outlets can only hold a small selection of such products due to space restrictions,” Mr Baron explained. “However the beauty of The Brace Shop is that we display many braces from every category, thereby greatly boosting consumer choice.”
“This can apply to tennis elbow, foot injuries, whatever you like. But customers can come in, and our staff will take them through the whole range of options.”
Helping people to feel better has become a passion for Mr Baron over his 35-year journey with the business, having even designed and manufactured some products on-site here in Melbourne.
With the business now located in his hometown of Port Melbourne, he said he had no plans yet of slowing down and felt fortunate to have been able to make a positive impact on so many customers for much of his working life.
“My staff and I have been doing this for a long time. I don’t think one can do something for this long without feeling good about it and enjoying what you do,” Mr Baron said. “The business continues strongly and it’s nice to see the fruits of our labour for all these years and see what we’ve created – a little world of health and wellness, I suppose.” •