Curves to close at end of month
Curves will close on March 31, according to the fitness center’s owner Mary Krell.
“It’s been coming,” Krell said about the closure. “It’s not making any money. I can’t finance it any longer.”
When Krell bought the Curves franchise in January 2008, there were 250 members, and now, she said, there are only 120.
Many people who have quit the club have left because of the economy, and new people are not coming in to replace them, she said.
Curves takes up half the building on Bank Road, Krell noted, and Aptic, a manufacturing company that leases the other half, will take over the whole building. Aptic makes artificial bones for educational purposes.
Curves first opened on the Island in June 2003, and Krell is the business’s third owner. Krell has a full-time job off-Island and intends to focus on that and her family come April, she said.
Shady Lady’s gallery to be shuttered
Shady Lady Interiors, which has been located for five years in the Wallflower Building at the intersection of Vashon Highway and Bank Road, plans to close its showroom and gallery.
The interior design studio, which was also an art gallery where local artwork was shown, will be run out of owner Sherry Evans’ home studio. Evans will continue to offer residential and small commercial interior design and interior and exterior window treatments.
The economy is the motivating factor behind the decision to close, Evans said. The overhead to keep the shop open was too much, she said.
Rebecca Douglas Photography, which has been sharing the Shady Lady space, will continue to offer the Vashon community portrait and wedding photography services.
Katz Communications Group moves into core of Vashon town
Katz Communications Group, a strategic communications and consulting company that serves business clients, has moved into the commercial space formerly occupied by Keller Williams Realty.
The company also designs Web sites and has worked on sites for local groups and businesses, including Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association and Vashon HouseHold.
Just south of The Rock Island Pub & Pizza, the 1,200-square-foot office is a good fit for the growing business, which had outgrown its office space at the Sheffield Building a mile south of town, said business owner Dean Katz.
“We decided we really wanted to have a place where we could have more effective internal communication,” Katz said of the move to the larger location.
While he doesn’t expect many walk-in customers, Katz said his new office space accommodates all his employees, including recently hired Director of Operations and Services Barbara Gylland.
Katz, a father of two, is a former journalist who worked for The Seattle Times and the Associated Press.
Working with him at Katz Communications are Islanders Marian Wachter, Katz’s wife and the company’s art director; Barbara Gylland and bookkeeper Wendy Nickolay.
