We have to close down our Tae Kwon Do School at the end of July. We have been in our current location for 4 years and the owner has sold the building. The new owners do not wish to extend our lease as they are going to open a deli. I did track the new owner down and talked to him. I was hoping that we could have a few months reprieve but that is not the case. He told me that as soon as the sale is final he will be in there getting it set up for a deli.
We are in the process of looking for a new location, but so far that is proving to be difficult. It is hard to find a building that is big enough to hold the school, but also affordable. Most of the buildings around are for sale and not really interested in leasing. Also the rent that they want is too expensive for us. I did call up one place and owner is only interested in giving me a month to month lease. Told me that if someone came and wanted the place for what it was designed for I would be out. I am looking for a long term lease.
July is our last month in operation. We do have a color belt promotion test and have students testing, I won't be charging monthly dues for July as I don't have to pay rent. I told the kids that I will work with them on a private lesson basis if they want to continue. We have two students who are able to test for their first black belts next spring.
I had the sad duty of informing our students and telling Grand Master Park. That was hard, but Grand Master Park did say that our students can train in Billings. I was bummed at first, but have accepted our fate. We worked hard on our little school and put in a lot of time and energy which I have enjoyed tremendously. We have been teaching in Hardin for 18 years (hard to believe).
We figured it out and we have moved 5 times in that time span. I was told in May that the building was for sale by the current owner. He offered it to us first but at this point in our lives we don't want to buy. We would have years ago, but then we didn't have the money. I didn't think the building would sale so fast but it did.
The new owners are the family that bought Dollies about a year ago. They also bought the empty lot in between.
As the saying goes, "All Good Things Must Come To An End". Another chapter in our lives has closed (on hiatus) and a new chapter will open.
2 comments:
Sorry to hear you are closing so soon. Too bad you couldn't have held out another 2 years to make it an even 20, but maybe something will turn up when you least expect it. One never knows.
This is sad! Too bad nobody has a big empty barn you could use. I don't understand why the owners of the buildings downtown wouldn't rent to you and at least have someone occupy the building. That's better than leaving them sit empty. Your school is an asset to the community. I hope something pops up.
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