Help Studio Lakeville & The Green Café

Studio Lakeville has been a fixture for fitness in Lakeville since 2015. Growing clientele and needing space, Leslie Eckstein had finally found a permanent home in early 2018 at the renovated Lakeville Firehouse at 9 Sharon Road in Lakeville. She realized her dream of running a healthy destination spot – a Green Café and a gym. It took a bit of time to have people become regulars at the Green Café. She already had a loyal following for her indoor cycling classes and other fitness offerings, including various exercise classes and the use of gym equipment.

Then COVID-19 arrived in the US and in March of 2020 the state closed down all gyms and restaurants. During that time Leslie paid her rent and other overhead costs from her own savings and the limited assistance made available by the federal government. Then when the government allowed restaurants to open for take-out, Leslie fought very hard to barely get by – still using her savings to pay for what the income did not cover so she could stay in business.

Though business began to pick up again last summer, she had not been able to fully recover from that loss and expected to be able to catch up and “get back to normal” this spring through the summer, the busiest time of the year for her. Unfortunately, Omicron struck, and the building she has been in at 9 Sharon Road, the old Lakeville Firehouse, was sold to new owners with a different view of the future for the building. Leslie never missed a rent payment and made sure all the bills for Studio Lakeville and the Green Cafe got paid. It has been a difficult road, but Leslie continues to fight and work her butt off to get through this.

Studio Lakeville and Green Cafe brightened up the old dormant Firehouse and have been a great addition to our community, but we are now in the worst months of the year for any retail business in the NorthWest corner, and Leslie could use some assistance over the next couple of months.

So please continue to patronize the Green Cafe and Studio Lakeville, and by contributing what you can to help Leslie, The Green Café, and Studio Lakeville keep up with the expenses until spring, when more people and better weather arrives.