When one door closed, another one eventually opened for Samantha Fincham.
It wasn’t by design, but COVID dictated the path she would take from one business venture into a new opportunity.
Fincham partnered with Nicole Cournoyer and they both went to considerable expense to develop Misfits Fitness Studio and Health Bar on Willow Street in Chemainus. Only nine months into it, COVID surfaced and they took a break, thinking they would be able to come back. That never happened, as the virus wreaked havoc and hit small businesses particularly hard.
“We realized it was here for the long haul and we hadn’t been able to build our business to handle the distancing between people,” said Fincham.
It was also unfortunate timing for her and Cournoyer to receive any of the available assistance.
“We weren’t eligible for all of the grants that were given,” noted Fincham. “I think if we had been open for a couple of years at that point, we would have had a couple of employees, but Nicole and I were running it by ourselves.”
It was too much to handle at that point and the two had to walk away from their investment, just as the business was developing a regular clientele and beginning to flourish.
“It was heartbreaking,” conceded Fincham. “It’s really hard. I took a mortgage against my house. That was my dream place.”
The two parted company for the venture and started looking at what would come next.
For Fincham, her options included working on a herbology diploma and continuing to do more yoga training during COVID while teaching some classes in a garden – whatever it took.
“Everyone kept giving me the gears, ‘when are you going to re-open?’” she confided.
“I invested so much on my career. I started looking at spaces and there wasn’t anything that met COVID protocols.”
A project to remodel the space of the former bowling alley and Kinney Clothing Co. fizzled out for now and then mom Liz Fincham bought the old Vancouver Island Soap Factory building in Old Town. Blush Vintage moved into the frontage space, but there was more room available to utilize.
“She said to me this is the perfect place for a yoga studio,” Fincham indicated.
The space being around the back of the building for training on the ground floor and the studio on the top floor above Blush suited people just fine, she believed.
“People don’t like to be watched when they’re working out.”
Minor renovations were started, Fincham called up some of the former Misfits ladies and things were all set to go when the Omicron variant created another hurdle to cross.
Long story short, the Hive Collective finally opened on Feb. 2 and has been going strong ever since, rebuilding a clientele in different types of health and fitness classes.
“It’s just been word of mouth and Facebook and (Chemainus Business Improvement Association executive director) Krystal Adams has been helpful,” noted Fincham. “The classes have been going well and the majority of the classes are full.”
She has enlisted instructors like Mara Narbutas, Lori Littlejohn and Jessica Lowry for yoga classes. “I am the only fitness instructor doing classes,” Fincham added.
Ashley Stobbart is doing personal training with her company Ashwood Wellness.
Two more teachers are joining the staff in April, Kobe Sturton and Cora Schiller.
Fincham’s vision for the facility has been to make it all-encompassing.
“I felt that’s what we need after two years,” she said. “It’s been slightly divisive. I wanted to bring that heart back into our community.”
As a plus size trainer, Fincham knows some of the apprehensions some people have but there’s no need to feel that way here.
“It’s a really all-fitness levels kind of studio space,” she emphasized. “We meet you where you’re at.
“I feel I do get a lot more phone calls, ‘I’m nervous, I’m scared.’ Just come. You will be pleasantly surprised. I promise.
“You don’t have to look like a Barbie doll. One of my favourite things about my job is I shock people with how much I can lift, my cardio.”
Fincham can be contacted by her email at thehivecollectiveco@gmail.com or by calling 250-246-0224.
