Movement Dance & Fitness looks towards expansion

GRUNDY CENTER - Business is booming for Movement Dance & Fitness owner Kara Fatzinger.
Since she first opened her studio four years ago, she has gone from 40 to over 140 students, and has expanded her class offerings from 7 classes to over 40 classes. As her business grows, Fatzinger says she’s beginning to outgrow her current space, and she’s looking to expand.
“When I first started, I had twenty students from ages three to fourteen years old, and it was just me teaching seven classes,” Fatzinger said. “Now, I have four instructors, four assistants and 144 students of all ages. We teach a lot of different classes and we just added tumbling, which has been hugely popular. It seems like we’ve grown each year, but the last two years we’ve been growing like crazy and as student numbers and class offerings grow, we need our space to grow too.”
Though the expansion is in very preliminary planning stages, Fatzinger says she has looked at available buildings downtown, but since her studio has specific needs, she is gravitating towards building a new studio. Fatzinger says she doesn’t have a set timeframe yet for the project, but she’s hoping to do it sooner rather than later, as she wants to give her students more room to grow.
“I want to give my students the space they need,” Fatzinger said. “We’re always learning and expanding, and figuring out what works best for our students, and this year we’re learning, too. We’ve never had this many students, but it’s great. I want to retain my students, but also have room for them to grow, and for the studio to grow.”
One thing that she says is important to her in her new expansion is keeping her business close to downtown Grundy Center.
“I did a survey of students’ parents, and one thing they said was really important was keeping the new studio towards Main Street,” Fatzinger said. “We have a lot of students from out of town, from Wellsburg, Conrad, Parkersburg and things that like, so when parents drop their kids off for dance, they like to utilize the downtown while they wait; they’ll go grab food, or grab a coffee, or go shopping or buy groceries. When they’re here, they shop local and spend their money in Grundy Center, so I want to keep my business as close to downtown as possible.”
For the full story, see this week's Grundy Register.