Dear Friends and Students,
As you know, we closed Sweat Junkie on Monday, March 16th with the full intention of reopening the studio when it was possible. We continue to be grateful to those students who stayed committed to their practice with us over the past 4 months over ZOOM and the recorded content our staff put together. We continue to be grateful for the new students we gained from near and far and to those who simply cheered us on. When it was possible, we eagerly opened the sanctuary knowing how many of us desperately needed that hot room.

Our lease with Northwestern has never been in our favor as we are required to renew annually every March. With the uncertainties regarding the future of our economy and environment, it was in the best interest of both parties to enter into a month to month agreement until we had a better grasp on the situation. When we returned to Sweat Junkie three weeks ago, we noticed L2 Media had not returned which made us nervous. As our suspicions would play out, NW had sent us a termination of lease on Thursday, July 16th.

Thus, we are sharing today, with heavy hearts, that we must close the physical studio permanently effective July 21st, 2020.

Our strong community is what has kept us going and we were fully prepared to ride this wave even if we needed additional financing from banks, family, friends, and community. Unfortunately, the amount we received through PPP was nominal as it did not cover our biggest expense, payroll. We continued to offer a full schedule during the ‘shut down’ despite students canceling one by one daily. We offered our teachers compensation for providing all the beautiful content that’s now in the World Wide Web for all of you to enjoy.

Even with all of our efforts, NW terminating our lease was NOT the way we anticipated Sweat Junkie would have to say goodbye to our community. We have been operating in the red since the beginning of the shut done, and can proudly say there was not a staff member, vendor, or landlord that didn’t get paid.

As for our auto pay students, we preemptively stopped all renewals as soon as we were notified of the termination in lease. For our students that have class packages or annuals, we have some proposed options as a way of giving back.

Emily with Shri Yoga Center in Highland Park will honor all Sweat Junkie package holders and annuals until the end of 2020. For those wanting to continue their fitness classes with Emily, you will be able to use your remaining classes until the end of 2020. If you want to continue your outdoor classes, and/or Virtual Yoga, Pilates, and/or Yoga Sculpt with Jamie, she will continue to lead your practices.

Deep gratitude and respect to all of our teachers for their inspiration, leadership, and love for our students. Thank you, JUNKIES, for allowing us to be of service to you over the past two years.

With Deep Gratitude,
Emily and Jamie