Fly Girl Dance & Fitness Closes Edison Park Studio After Pandemic-Fueled Setbacks

EDISON PARK — A dance and health studio centered on girls empowerment closed this week after practically eight years on the Far Northwest Side.

Fly Girl Dance & Fitness, which moved to its Edison Park location at 6325 N. Avondale Ave. in 2021, closed for good Monday, proprietor Kymberlee Kaye Raya mentioned.

Low membership, monetary losses from the pandemic, the unpredictable health market, excessive lease and elevated property taxes influenced the choice to shut, Kaye Raya mentioned.

“Ever since COVID, it’s not been the identical. … It’s killing me,” Kaye Raya mentioned.

Fly Girl Dance & Fitness provided courses in yoga, zumba, kickboxing, HIIT and a boot camp in a enjoyable atmosphere tailor-made to spice up girls’s confidence, the proprietor mentioned.

Kaye Raya, a mom of two from Park Ridge who has more than 30 years of experience within the dance and health world, launched the enterprise eight years in the past. She opened a Gladstone Park studio in 2016 however left that house in January 2021.

Kaye Raya bounced round Northwest Side health studios and hosted pop-up courses whereas scouting for a brand new residence, deciding on the Edison Park location, she previously told Block Club.

Credit: Provided

But throughout that point, Kaye Raya moved to Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, and she or he opened a second Fly Girl Dance & Fitness studio in April 2021.

The studio in Kaye Raya’s new hometown grew quickly, whereas the Chicago location struggled to recoup cash or members, she mentioned.

“We’d have 30 [people per class] earlier than COVID, however now it was 12 if I used to be fortunate,” she mentioned. “I used to be continually staying on the fence to assist Chicago keep alive.”

Although the choice was heartbreaking, Kaye Raya mentioned she is assured it was the proper transfer for her psychological well being and the enterprise.

Kaye Rayas hopes to host pop-up health courses in Chicago to communicate along with her Northwest Side members, who largely reside in Norwood Park, Edison Park and the suburbs.

“It’s a clear lower, a clear yr — I do know what I did is true,” Kaye Raya mentioned.

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