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The COVID-19 pandemic offered many lessons, including how to work remotely, that having food other than pizza delivered to the doorstep isn’t that strange, and that wearing masks can almost feel as routine as putting on a pair of socks.
Couple Nic Gerard and Alison Zarrow learned something even more: Just because the pandemic locks in a person doesn’t mean the person has to be locked out from favorite activities.
They recently launched Gymspire, a company that designs and creates home gyms specific to a person’s or family’s needs.
The company’s focus is on creating “thoughtfully customized home gyms with an online design process that’s easy, expert and affordable.”
“We believe that a home gym should be more than just a place to exercise,” Gerard said. “It should be designed with physical and mental health as the main principle.”
Gerard and Zarrow recently moved from San Francisco to Santa Barbara. The idea for the company was developed after the pandemic forced the closure of their favorite gyms.
As busy professionals, they wanted a home gym setup that would both inspire them and enhance their daily lives, Gerard said.
He designed his first home gym in a small, converted spare bedroom of his San Francisco apartment. He attended UCSB, then moved to San Francisco and sold B2B software for seven years. He also worked for startups and larger companies such as Salesforce.
“The healthy lifestyle I experienced during my cherished days at UCSB stuck with me,” Gerard said. “I wanted to start a business that inspires people to stay fit for life, and make that more accessible and more affordable.”
Zarrow built a kombucha tea business into a national brand. She started Clearly Kombucha while she was a student at Stanford University. Her reason for starting a kombucha company was related to the health benefits she experienced from drinking it. She ran the company for nine years before selling it to Molson Coors in 2018.
“My belief in a holistic approach to mental health and physical wellness is authentic to who I am and translates directly to everything I do,” she said. “Gymspire is an outlet that embodies these values, and a way that I can help others discover the benefits behind a fulfilled and balanced life.”
When the pandemic hit, they knew it was going to be important to stay fit, but also stay as mentally healthy as possible, Gerard said. Exercise and mental health are important to both of them.
“Far from being hard-core gym rat types, we’re actually both fussy when it comes to working out,” Gerard said. “We want the spaces we spend our time in to be clean and beautiful, even our gym. We wanted an appealing and functional space, and we didn’t want to spend a fortune to have it.
“In our case, the space we had available for fitness was our garage. Maybe it was the extra time that the pandemic afforded us to obsess about things, but we really got into it. We ended up designing home gyms for our siblings, parents and an assortment of friends. That experience, and their positive and constructive feedback, taught us a lot.”
New Paseo Nuevo Stores
Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara’s popular open-air mall, is feeling some new energy.
The Watermelon Apparel pop-up, 317 Paseo Nuevo, opens Saturday. It’s trendy and comfy clothing made in Santa Barbara by UCSB student Athena Wang, according to Mary Lynn Harms-Romo, the mall’s marketing manager.
Wang founded the online lifestyle apparel brand in the spring of 2020. The company’s products cater to women of all body sizes with a goal of promoting a lifelong sense of self-love and body positivity. The brand has established a unique, fashionable and leisurely California style, Harms-Romo said.
Other stores are popping up in Paseo Nuevo.
Orangetheory Fitness opened Wednesday at 629 Paseo Nuevo, facing Chapala Street.
Seaside Makers Collective is now open at 727 State St. and plans to have a grand opening during Fiesta.
“Paseo Nuevo continues to see traffic build week over week as guests safely return to public activities and visitors increase for the summer tourism season,” Harms-Romo said. “This positive movement builds confidence for new businesses opening brick and mortar locations and creates vitality at the center as we add more and more new stores and return to hosting annual signature events like Fiesta.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
