PORTAGE, Mich. — It all works out in the end — at least for Pure Barre owner Kennedy Lynch. After her business was displaced by the tornado on May 7, she's one step closer to opening her new location.
"They went back in the back of the building to just kind of take cover as the storm passed over. And I was on the phone with her the whole time," Lynch said, recalling the day her studio transformed into a scene of destruction.
"The door was stuck. So they were about to break the glass with a fire extinguisher, and somebody from the outside of the building came and helped them open the door,” Lynch told FOX 17. The entire wall of the studio had shifted, but fortunately, “the ceiling did not collapse onto them.”
Since then, Lynch and her team have turned lemons into sweaty lemonade. “After the first day, we had at least one morning, one early-morning, one mid-morning, and one evening class at different locations until we could temporarily be here,” she said.
Vitality Health Care has served as Pure Barre’s temporary home.
With unwavering support from their members, the stormy day of May 7 is almost behind them. “It wasn't just a fitness class for them; it was part of their daily routine. It’s their community; it’s their stress outlet," she said. "We’ve always tried really hard to create that positive, like-minded community, but to hear them say that, and to just support and still love each other through this, is what’s made us be able to stay open."
Lynch told FOX 17 she's excited about Pure Barre’s new permanent home, set to open on Sept. 20. “We're really excited. It's a little bit bigger, so we're super excited about that. And like I said, we have some new features coming in, so we're excited about that as well.”
Pure Barre’s new location will be on Oakland Drive, directly across from their old studio.
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