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Main Street shifts as Snap Fitness opens, Darbe & Co. moves

 

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From left: Susan Needham, opening a Darbe & Co. location in Greene; Marlowe and Jay Jung, opening a Snap Fitness in the current Darbe & Co.; and Deb McNeilus, owner of Darbe & Co., which will be moving down the sidewalk on Charles City’s Main Street. Press photo by Kate Hayden
By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

Main Street, Charles City will see a few changes to storefronts in the coming months.

Jay and Marlowe Jung will be opening a new Snap Fitness 24/7 gym in the business district after purchasing the current Darbe & Co. building from owner Deb McNeilus.

McNeilus is not closing down shop though –– her business will move down the sidewalk to 200 North Main Street Suite #1, next to Kloberdanz Insurance Office. The storefront may be smaller, but Darbe & Co. is also expanding to Greene, where Susan Needham will be opening a Darbe & Co. boutique. iWireless will remain in it’s current location.

 Snap Fitness

The Jungs had been looking for storefront space for more than a year by the time they approached McNeilus about purchasing her Main Street storefront. It had been a 10 year-long dream for the couple to open a fitness center, Jay said, but the timing wasn’t quite right until the family moved back to Charles City, where Jay and Marlowe had graduated high school.

“When we moved up here, we thought that this would be an opportunity to move forward in that dream,” Jay said.

The couple will be opening a Snap Fitness franchise, which offers 24/7 access to patrons, including Fitness on Demand options. Jay and Marlowe visited the Snap Fitness headquarters in Minnesota before committing to the company, and were impressed with the modern, family-like working atmosphere the company provided it’s employees.

“We really liked the way that that felt,” Jay said.

“They’ve really, over the year, stuck with us as we worked through the different types of struggles that we’ve had as far as finding the properties or the right locations, costs, those type of things,” Marlowe said. “We knew we wanted to be in the downtown area, we knew we wanted to be close to Central Park for opportunities there.”

iWireless will still be operating in the current storefront. During Snap Fitness renovations, iWireless will receive walls to block it off from the gym and have a separate storefront on Main Street.

The new fitness center will offer 24/7 access, traditional free weights, fitness classes, and the company’s interactive Fitness on Demand program. The gym feature will be in a private room, where individuals or small groups can choose from digital instructors of fitness classes such as yoga or spin classes.

The Jungs will also be hiring a couple of personal trainers, as well as day-to-day operational staff members.

“We really want to encompass what our community’s asking for and have it here,” Marlowe said. “We’ve heard there’s different people that drive outside the community to do various fitness activities, and we think you don’t need to do that. We should have that here.”

Early membership opportunities will be coming soon for those interested in Snap Fitness, with extra benefits available for those signing up early, Jay said. Memberships will be available on a monthly or yearly basis, as well as a few other options.

“We’re going to be starting to build an email list of clients, contacts who want to be in on it early,” Jay said. “There’ll be more to come on that.”

Interested clients will also receive weekly updates of the renovation project once the Jungs move into the space mid-to-late April. The couple is working through the initial conceptual design phase. Updates will also be available on the company Facebook page, @snapfitnesscharlescity.

“We really want to modernize the facility,” Jay said. “A big-city feel in small-town Iowa. Modern, clean, new design.”

Marlowe has always had a personal interest in fitness, which helped grow the idea of a business with the couple.

“For me, fitness is crucial,” Marlowe said. “It’s just something for me, that I know the benefits of it … I really feel like being able to give that back to other people and help them reach their fitness goals, to me, would be so self-rewarding.”

“We want to be part of the Main Street community,” Jay said.

Darbe & Co. 

The offer to purchase McNeilus’s building came at the right time for Darbe & Co. as McNeilus and Needham talked about a need for a boutique in Greene.

Needham owns the Perrin Inn Bed & Breakfast in Greene, and had started working with McNeilus to put on style shows at the Inn for visitors. She had previously been a regular customer at Darbe & Co., she said.

“The thought came to mind that we need a boutique in Greene, because we don’t have one,” Needham said. “We started talking, and one thing just led to another. It’s amazing how it’s come together.”

Now that the building has sold to the Jungs, McNeilus will be downsizing her Charles City inventory and moving just down the Main Street. The Greene location, on East Traer, will be carrying the same labels for the most part, Needham said, but will also carry nurses’ scrubs.

“I’ll be right next door to Mercy in Greene,” she said.

The Charles City Darbe & Co. location will also downsize inventory and focus closely on some of McNeilus’ favorite lines, she said.

“We’re going to try to get into fair trade (products),” McNeilus said –– including jewelry, bags and scarves. McNeilus is specifically focusing on the Trades of Hope brand. “I’m really interested in these stories.”

Both stores will carry wine labels, with the Greene location starting solely with Iowa-made wines.

The boutique opened in Charles City in February 2013, McNeilus said. When the Jungs approached her after Shankland Insurance moved out of their space, “I had no thoughts of moving,” McNeilus said –– but she soon realized it would be an opportunity for the Charles City location.

The Charles City store will close in mid-April, when Snap Fitness moves in, and will remain closed for a few weeks as McNeilus’ new storefront is remodeled. That space –– the former Democratic headquarters in the 2016 election cycle –– will be an open-concept, with walls knocked down, new paint and new floors installed. The Greene Darbe & Co. location will be opened by May 1, and McNeilus is hoping to re-open in early summer.

Customers will find both locations online at Darbe & Co.’s current website, www.darbecoboutique.com, and on the Facebook page, @DarbeCoBoutique. Needham can be contacted at 641-816-4166.

Hours at the Charles City location will remain the same; Greene location hours will be announced at a later date.

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