Eastside Fitness, on Fraser just south of 41st, is truly a neighborhood fitness studio. Opened by Darnelle Moore and Wendy Sinclair in 2012, its roots were established almost a decade before when Darnelle and Wendy were introduced by a mutual neighbour who knew they were both looking for childcare for their young sons.
Darnelle was a fitness expert who wasn't sure she wanted to get back into the industry after her third child was born, and Wendy, who works for the Vancouver Police Department, was finishing her yoga teacher training. They planned to launch a studio in Wendy's garage but found they couldn't get a business license. “We wanted to create a real business, not something on the side,” says Darnelle.
“I started putting together a business plan, a budget forecast and surveyed over 500 people in the neighbourhood about what they'd want in a local fitness studio. I'd put together a great document but I was shy about showing it off, whereas Wendy was not shy at all, and before I knew it she was making appointments for us at the bank and to see potential spaces.” And thus Eastside Fitness was born.
