Out of nowhere, Ascend Body, a longtime Mission fitness studio, closed its doors Saturday, leaving many employees and members confused.
A three-page notice posted to the front door at 2415 Mission St. and signed by Ascend’s owner, Shane Young, said the business had experienced “several significant financial hardships.”
“I never imagined I would have to close the doors, and there were things in play that had us hopeful up until the last minute. Though we pulled out all the stops to solve this, it just wasn’t possible,” Young wrote.
In a phone call with Mission Local, Young said that the studio had been operating on a “thin margin” since it moved in March 2018 from 16th Street into 2415 Mission St.
Problems with the building’s owners arose almost immediately, he said, because it was never made clear to Young when “payments were due” and the late fees piled up. Rents were paid electronically, and the landlord lives out of the area.
The landlord could not be reached for comment.
Young said that the owner began adding late fees and Young was never clear on how much he owed. He said he hired a lawyer when his late fees reached nearly $10,000.
Young said the final blow came when four trainers left the studio and took their clients with them. With those recent defections, he said, the business wasn’t able to recover and was forced to close.
It’s unclear why the trainers left. One trainer who spoke to Mission Local refused to go into details regarding the departure.
Despite the closure, Young said he had no “hard feelings” toward the employees who left. Instead, he blamed the high rent which was at least two and a half times more than Ascend paid at 2973 16th St. Young said that despite the increase in rent, the fitness studio moved because they had more clients and needed more space.
“It sank us. The last four days have been incredibly hard and the clients are sad that it’s closing,” Young said.
On Tuesday, some clients discovered the closure when they arrived to work out.
One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, discovered the gym’s closure from the note taped to the gym’s front door. She had signed up for classes at Ascend last week via Groupon and she expected to have her first class this week.
“I guess I’m out of 80 bucks. I wish they would have said something, especially if they knew their last day was on Saturday. It’s insane,” the woman said.
One employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said there had been zero notice. The employee did not want to go into detail because she was still awaiting a final paycheck.
As of last month, Ascend Body had 170 clients regularly attending classes at the studio. Young said there were 13 employees at the studio, including cleaning staff.
Young, who has been working as a lifestyle coach for over 13 years, said he’s still figuring out how to move forward with the business and his career. He hopes to plan a goodbye party soon, he said.
“Our community was amazing and I’m super grateful to the people who made it was. I’m happy for the time we spent together,” he said.
It sounds like the property owner Jered Kenna (owner of 20 mission co op community home) and mr. young are the ones responsible for this lack of responsibility and dedication to the local businesses that came to 20th and mission. Jered’s inability to maintain control over any of his financial institutions is very evident.
Gregory,
I’m not sure what you mean by lack of responsibility. I’m betting Mr. Young truly blames himself more than anyone else. If Ascend could have found a better option I’m sure they would have taken it.
Seeing as he leased this space instead of another I would assume it was the most economical rent that fit his criteria.
Costs to build and operate in SF are insanely high. I applaud Ascend (and Laundre) for running a mom and pop business in SF. The reality is with high labor costs, taxes, utilities and everything else the city piles on it’s pushing everything towards formula retail and other high profit businesses.
I took a risk renting to Ascend and hoped that a small local business would be able to succeed. Unfortunately they didn’t. I’m not responsible for his operation and out of respect for his privacy I won’t go in to detail but I did go beyond what his contract stipulated.
The “financially responsible” thing to do would have been to put a Soul Cycle or Barry’s Bootcamp in the space instead but I’d rather see an Ascend succeed.
He absolutely did try and knew it was an uphill battle from the beginning. I hoped that he would be able to keep it afloat and I wish him the best of luck in the future.
So then, what’s up with “Problems with the building’s owners arose almost immediately”, $10,000 late fees, having to hire a lawyer, and unclear when payments were due?
It’s simply not true.
1) There was a contract signed that detailed payments / other relevant numbers and dates.
2) I gave him additional free rent when he wasn’t ready
3) I paid for more construction than specified in the contract.
I had issues with Ascend and we might disagree on a few things but overall I think we were both reasonable. It’s incredibly hard to run a physical business in one of the most expensive cities on the planet. He absolutely tried his best and it almost worked out.
I’d prefer to not go in to more detail I don’t think it will benefit anyone. I wish it had worked out. Believe me, I don’t benefit from Ascend closing.
Shane is a good guy and I don’t fault him. I don’t think anyone should say if you did XYZ differently it would have worked.
Rent is expensive, wages are high, taxes and everything else to do with the city. In another city the construction could have been done for half or less. The city in its current state isn’t conducive to small business and it needs to change.
Rigoberto,
You are misinformed on many levels. Seemingly that is your MO based on previous comments you’ve left on other articles.
1. We did not shut down the cafe illegally – we’ve officially changed our address with the city and obtained permits to separate the laundry and cafe spaces.
2. We are NOT required to have restrooms for customers – only staff – which we do have. You seem to be extra sensitive about this so let me clarify why we will no longer be offering restrooms to the public. Almost on a daily basis we dealt with extreme vandalism within our restrooms – everything from people defecating on our floors, to stuffing unimaginable objects down our toilets which left us with huge plumbing bills and last but not least, people selling and using drugs within our restrooms. Many times this resulted in me having to call the paramedics to knock down our restroom door to get the person responsible out – and yes we would need to then replace the door. We are a SMALL BUSINESS with limited resources and can longer longer incur the high costs of maintaining restrooms that were taken for granted. Many shops on Mission don’t offer restrooms for this exact same reason but I don’t see you calling them out.
3. You don’t know anything about our financials.
4. The cafe is currently EMPTY – which is quite obvious. Not sure how you came up that or that $16k number – you must have a lot of time on your hands.
Lastly, if you ever have a question about my business – come talk to me – stop trolling on the comments section.
Facts matter.
Since facts matter. The laundromat is non ADA compliant. Change machine is too high. Handicap people cant get change. Discrimination is not tolerated in the Mission.
Ricardo, if you actually cared about those of us who use wheelchairs, you’d know we consider the term “handicapped” to be a slur. You are looking to start trouble about a business that has nothing to do with the article above! And I don’t hear you or anyone else out there complaining about the MANY non-ADA-compliant businesses in this neighborhood that I can’t even get my wheelchair into, never mind worry about a change machine! Please stop pretending to care about disabled people when you’re really just trying to knock down a woman who already lost half of her business because of neighborhood association bullying!
You have a lot of supporters ARiana! Thank you for sticking around. The last 6 months we have seen at least a couple of dozen business leave.
That’s unfortunate to have another vacant storefront on Mission St. I hope they dont pull a fast one like Laundre next door. Was approved as a laundromat / cafe combo. They removed the cafe portion illegally and just kept the laundromat. The location was required to have bathrooms for the customers. The laundry customers no longer have a bathroom to use. Have seen them pooping on the streets because no bathrooms. It’s like opening a restaurant with liquor and a year later removing the restaurant. Then it’s just a bar. I hope planning looks into Laundre for the bait and switch. I heard she makes $1,000,000 profit off the laundromat a year. Also they are illegally subleasing the cafe space and want $16,000 a month with bathrooms (laundry customers have no restrooms).
Back to the fitness studio. Would be nice if they opened it up for the local community. We have an obesity ebidementic and food desert. We need to start teaching kids healthy lifestyles.
Food desert in the mission? maybe you should visit sometime and see all of the grocers/restaurants available. In addition, there are a few places in the mission where you can stand in line and get a giant box of FREE fruits/vegetables once a week. Corner of Capp and 20th is one example. Education is what is lacking.
He said NOT a food desert.
The mission is 100% not a food desert and laundromats never have restrooms and it’s not a bait and switch to remove the cafe portion. I’m positive the city didn’t grant them a license on the contingency that they also have a cafe. There’s no shortage of cafes in the mission or San Francisco in general. As well, a liquor license is it’s own thing and has nothing to do with it being a restaurant or a bar. In San Francisco there’s a limited number of liquor licenses and you have to buy yours from someone who already has one.
Also, how would a closed business that was already open to the community before it closed open itself up to the community?
I feel like if there’s anything to say it’s that obviously this man knew his business was likely to close and not telling his employees that is an unacceptable betrayal. I feel no sympathy for him.