MOORHEAD — Downtown Chiropractic, a business with roots extending back to the early days of the Moorhead Center Mall, will soon move out of what little remains of the shopping center to a new home a stone’s throw away.
Matt Gilbertson and Matt Lau, the owners of Downtown Chiropractic, said they plan to close their doors June 7 and resume business June 9 in the
a newly constructed development that went up next to what used to be the Center Mall.
Matt Gilbertson (left) and Matt Lau of Downtown Chiropractic walk from their old location in the Moorhead Center Mall to a new building on Center Avenue in Moorhead on Friday, May 16, 2025, where they will open Downtown Health & Wellness.
Anna Paige / The Forum
Lau and Gilbertson say the new space will be twice the size of the old clinic and reflect a multidisciplinary approach to providing wellness services.
That approach will include dietitians, naturopathic doctors, physical therapists, massage therapists and mental health professionals.
Matt Gilbertson of Downtown Chiropractic talks about how the business is expanding into a larger space on Center Avenue in Moorhead. The revamped clinic, which will include a fitness center and spa, will be called Downtown Health & Wellness.
Anna Paige / The Forum
The new space will also house a 24/7 fitness center and a spa and it will get a new name — Downtown Health & Wellness.
“Our whole dream of this new space is to create something no one else is doing in town,” said Lau, who along with Gilbertson isn’t shy when it comes to expressing their pride in being hometown “Spuds.”
Matt Lau of Downtown Chiropractic, says he is proud of his Moorhead roots, which is one of the big reasons he and business partner Matt Gilbertson, also a Moorhead native, are expanding the clinic into a new, larger space on Moorhead’s Center Avenue.
Anna Paige / The Forum
“The (chiropractic) clinic has been here over 50 years, it was the clinic I came to as a kid,” added Lau, who became an associate in the clinic in 2010 and bought into the practice four years later, working with Jeff Pladson, who had operated the practice in the Center Mall since 1980.
“He (Pladson) was my chiropractor and a big reason why I got into chiropractice,” Lau said.
Matt Lau walks through a new building under construction on Center Avenue in Moorhead on Friday, May 16, 2025. Lau and business partner Matt Gilbertson will open Downtown Health & Wellness in the new space later this summer.
Anna Paige / The Forum
Pladson retired in 2017.
Gilbertson, who rented space in the clinic from 2008-2010, joined Lau as an owner in 2019.
Business partners Matt Gilbertson (left) and Matt Lau stand in a new building on Center Avenue in Moorhead that will become Downtown Health & Wellness.
Anna Paige / The Forum
The clinic itself was started by Roger Larum in the early 1970s, around the time the Center Mall opened.
Lau and Gilbertson say demolition of the Center Mall has been rough on business, but they envision a bright future going forward.
This summer, Downtown Chiropractic will leave what remains of the Moorhead Center Mall and move into a newly built complex on Center Avenue in Moorhead, where it will reopen as Downtown Health & Wellness.
Anna Paige / The Forum
Given all of the changes, Gilbertson said clients have been very resilient.
“They’ve called and said: “How do we get to you?” Gilbertson said.
Dave Olson is a reporter, photographer and occasional videographer. He graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a degree in mass communications, and during his time at The Forum he has covered many beats, from cops and courts to business and education. Currently is writing business stories, but jumps on daily news as needed. He’s also written about UFOs, ghosts, dinosaur bones and the dwarf planet Pluto. You may reach Dave at 701-241-5555, or by email at dolson@forumcomm.com.