Get the Top, Local stories delivered to your inbox! Click here to join the daily Vernon Matters newsletter.
Sareena Nickoli (Photo credit: Carousel Studios)
Virtual business saved the company

Public health orders an ’emotional rollercoaster’

Mar 29, 2021 | 3:34 PM

The owner of Vernon’s popular Soul Studio Fitness, Sareena Nickoli, was having a pretty good Monday, and then came news of the latest public health orders.

“I’m okay, I think it’s just the emotional rollercoaster that’s the big deal,” Nickoli told Vernon Matters. “I think I understand the reasons why things have to be this way to get the cases down. Where my frustration lies—as with any small business—whether it is the fitness or restaurant industry, is the inconsistencies.”

Nickoli has only been allowed to have classes in her 2,000 square foot studio in six of the last 12 months.

“You can go to a gym and have someone working out right beside you,” Nickoli said. “We just re-opened to get people to come again and fill my space of people, and it’s like, you gotta cut that off again.”

The business moved quickly at the start of the pandemic to start offering classes virtually and also has an on demand portal.

“It’s actually saved me, and even through this is an emotional rollercoaster for myself—because selfishly I don’t get to see people—my classes will continue, my people will continue to do classes. My virtual classes right now, even since we have been allowed to open, are more full than in-studio, but people were starting to get comfortable with coming back in, and then they did this,” Nickoli added.

One of the new public health orders announced Monday included a ban on all indoor adult group fitness activities of any kind, like gyms, fitness centres and studios, until April 19. It’s restricted to individual or one-on-one activities only.

To check out Soul Studios virtual fitnesses classes, click here.

View Comments