From Shop To Studio: Securing a Space

Ever dreamt of opening an aerial studio but when faced with the reality didn’t know where to start? Treeline Aerial has been dreaming of a home for almost 5yrs and the time has finally come. We are sharing this journey with you as we muddle our way through how to open a circus studio using our surrounding resources, supporting local and bringing all your friends and family on board to help. We are sharing tips and tricks along the way in hope that it might be useful to someone else out there or if anything, you can learn from our mistakes!

The opportunity to take over the new space in question felt like I was coming full circle, I had been here before almost a year ago and with it not working out I didn’t allow myself to get my hopes up this time. The landlord gave me a heads up that there were two other businesses interested in the space and I knew that I had to pull the trigger on this despite many people advising me that taking on a lease in the midst of a pandemic was not a good business decision. With so much uncertainty of the future, the debate about the second wave, watching other businesses permanently close around me I knew I had to decide, am I all in or do I walk away. I chose the former.

I want to give a shout out to Danny and Bob and my former landlord who vouched for me for this space knowing the hardship that Treeline has faced in looking for a space and have given me this opportunity to grow.

I decided to document this experience of setting up an aerial studio as when I was researching how to set things up and where to start, there wasn’t a lot of information out there on the dos and don’ts. I also wanted you, our Treeline Aerial Community to be able to follow along with the process and feel like you are involved in building our new aerial home.

The past few months of quarantine have been a complete rollercoaster. From finding out our sublet space at The Hangar was folding, the hope of being able to take over the space taken away overnight and the despair of not knowing if there was a business to come back to, to say that I was completely and emotionally overwhelmed was an understatement.

Many of you know the search for our own space has not been a new thing. Going up against high demand for commercial space in Whistler, lack of 20ft ceiling buildings, affordability, new bylaws in Squamish it has been no easy feat. With 5 yrs of subletting in Whistler and Squamish under my belt and multiple spaces getting really close to working out but falling through at the last minute, I had reached boiling point. The irony of course is that it has literally taken a global pandemic to occur in order for us to secure a space, when it’s the worst time in theory to be taking on overhead.

“The next day I suited up in my dungarees and steel toes and headed to the space to make a start. ”

Negotiations on the lease felt like they were taking an age, in reality only a week had passed but every day I sat planning and then holding off. I couldn’t order mats until I knew I had the space, I couldn’t look at flooring etc. so I sat waiting, too superstitious to tell anyone in case it ended in disappointment again. After all, this would be the third lease I got close to signing.

On Thursday 21st May 2020 I drove down to Kong Law to sign with the landlord and my lawyer. It actually felt really empowering that this whole situation was being handled by three females, each in completely different fields but coming together in business to move forward. Afterwards it didn’t actually feel real, or I couldn’t believe it was finally happening after 5 yrs of working towards this. It felt like it should have been a big milestone celebration but I was too eager to get started, there will be time for celebrating later. The next day I suited up in my dungarees and steel toes and headed to the space to make a start.

Keep checking back for more blog updates on how the new Treeline Aerial studio is shaping up!

From Shop To Studio: Securing a Space

Our Whistler Space