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SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024 THE N'WEST IOWA REVIEW/SHELDON, IA E4 Opportunity works out for new fitness business BUSINESS Couples transform former tumbling studio into gym BY RENEE WIELENGA RWIELENGA@NWESTIOWA.COM SIOUX CENTER—Moving one Sioux Center business to a new location provided the perfect opportunity for a couple to open a second business. After Adam and Robin Fedders opened Studio R Acrobatics & Tumbling at its new location Jan. 29, the couple along with the help staff and fitness coaches Joel and Chelsea Gonzalez of Sioux Center repainted the interior of the downtown space at 341 N. Main Ave. to create a gym and physical fitness center called R Fitness, which opened Feb. 5. “Health, taking care of the body God gave us, is so important to us,” Robin said. “It’s so amazing how God has allowed us to not only open one but two businesses that provide ways in which we can help others learn how to use and take care of their good bodies God gave them, whether they’re a student doing acrobatics and tumbling, or an adult interested in the using the gym or coming to fitness classes.” R Fitness opening While Robin had a tumbling background, she Advanced Studio R Acrobatics & Tumbling student Ariel Stahlecker practices a standing back handspring with the support of owner Robin Fedders during class on Jan. 29, the opening day of the new studio space in Sioux Center. AT A GLANCE: Business: R Fitness Owners: Adam and Robin Fedders of Sioux Center Address: 341 N. Main Ave., Sioux Center Phone: 712-463-2674 Classes: 5 a.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday; 4:15 and 5:15 p.m. Monday-Friday; 7 a.m. Saturday. E-mail: rfitness712@gmail.com Online: studiortumbling.com; Facebook. and Adam also enjoyed CrossFit training. Since CrossFit BKN in Sioux Center closed in early 2020, the couple held CrossFit-style classes called Stronger U at the former downtown tumbling studio. However, such classes were limited to morning times due to the studio being used by students most afternoons and early evenings. Joel and Chelsea Gonzalez attended those classes as they, too, had been members of the former CrossFit gym. “There was this desire to have afternoon times for classes, and we’d been hearing that Sioux Center could use another fitness center,” Adam said. “Knowing Joel had been thinking about opening a gym, and we’d have this space open once the studio moved out, we thought we’d work together to open that new gym space.” R Fitness is not a certified CrossFit gym but does offer CrossFit-style classes and open gym time for members to use the equipment that includes free weights, stationary bikes, benches, row machines, rings, a squat stand, a cable machine, a lat pull-down machine and more. “CrossFit-style workouts involve functional fitness, cardio and lifting,” Joel said. “What I like most is that anybody can do it. If you don’t know what it is, I encourage you to just try it out and see what it’s like. I didn’t know how to do all the lifts and things when I started. Anyone, any age, can start.” Classes have participants ranging in age from 30s-50s. Classes are held at 5 a.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday; 4:15 and 5:15 p.m. Monday-Friday; and 7 a.m. Saturday. Members who just want to come and exercise on their own schedules have keypad access. R Fitness owners Adam and Robin Fedders stand with R Fitness managers Chelsea and Joel Gonzalez at the downtown Sioux Center site at 341 N. Main Ave. Photos by Renee Wielenga Studio R upgrade The downtown location in Sioux Center was always meant to be a short-term space for Studio R, which the Adam and Robin Fedders opened in 2018. The couple began thinking about a new space sooner than they thought as having 50 students within two years of opening already made the space feel tight, and they have 135 students enrolled for the 2023-24 school year. As the couple began looking for a new space to rent, a partnership with Midwest Electrical Services Inc. owner Dan Reid of Sioux Center developed as he owned land in town on which he was looking to build to have more storage for his business. “He was doing some work in our downtown space once, and we got to talking about us needing a larger space but not able to find a place in town that fit our needs,” Adam said. “He called us later and shared his idea to partner, and it felt like a really good fit.” However, the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 increased building material prices and pushed back construction of the new facility to 2023 in which Reid built a 9,600-square-foot facility on a 0.70-acre lot on Second Avenue Northeast and is leasing 6,800 square feet of that space to the Fedderses. The new studio space includes an entrance “Health, taking care of the body God gave us, is so important to us.” ROBIN FEDDERS, STUDIO R CO-OWNER AT A GLANCE: Business: Studio R Acrobatics & Tumbling Owners: Adam and Robin Fedders of Sioux Center Address: 1170 Second Ave. NE, Sioux Center Phone: 712-441-1897 Hours: Open during classes. E-mail: studio.r.tumbling@gmail.com Online: studiortumbling.com; Facebook area before entering the main floor that has a sitting area, a 54-by-42-foot spring floor that meets the competition cheer floor standards, a 1 3/8-inch carpet floor area, a three-eighthsinch rubber mat floor area and a 42-foot-long Tumbl Trak. The new spring floor is about four times larger than what the previous studio had. “We were definitely tight downtown, and the students were feeling that as class sizes got bigger,” Robin said. She said she immediately noted students in the new facility were moving better and feeling more excited about having more space for class. “I’ve really seen students progress more in their skills. This new space was so worth the wait,” Robin said. “I’m excited to be here for a long time and see what other possibilities this space will provide.”
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024 THE N'WEST IOWA REVIEW/SHELDON, IA E5 BUSINESS Hobby of couple grows into business in Sheldon They open downtown site for design printing BY MIKAELA MACKEY MMACKEY@NWESTIOWA.COM SHELDON—When Sebastian Montoya and Makayla De Jong started printing shirt designs two years ago as a married couple pastime, they had no idea the business that would come out of it. Montoya and De Jong of Boyden opened EJ Designs Wednesday, April 17, in downtown Sheldon. “We kind of started it together just as a hobby,” De Jong said. “We would go to like vendor fairs and things like that — and then it grew exponentially.” The couple started experimenting with printing techniques like direct to fabric heat transfer and vinyl sublimation out of their home. With Montoya’s first language being Spanish and De Jong’s being English, they were able to provide their services to many people in the community as well as outside of it. Montoya started making TikTok videos about the T-shirts he printed. From there, sales exploded nationwide. “We have a lot of small businesses from around the country that we’re their provider for like their uniforms and their hats and all of their merchandise. So, we’ve been sending to Texas, California, New York, just all over the place,” De Jong said. “Now that we’ve had so many from around, we’re actually getting more from word-of-mouth from those clients. So, people in Texas that have never even seen his TikToks, but they talk to this person, and they recommended him.” She said she and her husband are working with 15-30 clients a week. One of the aspects that helped their business grow was Montoya’s jump into embroidery last summer. Just like the start of the business, De Jong said Montoya did not care as much about gaining popularity as he did finding a new hobby. “The big thing was he wanted to start making hats,” she said. Once the couple found an embroidery machine for sale, Montoya began embroidering clothes for anywhere between a single hat gift order to three-dozen shirts for a small business staff. Montoya’s TikTok-live videos and We kind of started it together just as a hobby. We would go to like vendor fairs and things like that — and then it grew exponentially. Makayla De Jong EJ DESIGNS CO-OWNER AT A GLANCE: Business: EJ Designs Owners: Sebastian Montoya and Makayla De Jong Address: 310 Ninth St., Sheldon Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday- Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday Phone: 515-916-3254 Online: Facebook reels have continued to be pivotal to business growth. EJ Designs has more than 4,700 followers on the one video app alone. “He was working on orders and said, ‘I’m going to put it online and just see what happens,’” De Jong said. “People show up, and they’re asking him questions about it, and then he ends up talking to them on the phone after he ends the live, and they order with him.” De Jong does not do embroidery but helps with vinyl and sublimation projects as well as working through customer orders and translating when needed. The couple hopes to grow their business as they grow as a family, raising their 18-month-old son, Giovanni Montoya. The name EJ Designs stands for Ethan John, the couple’s first baby lost at 16 weeks of pregnancy. Montoya and De Jong started EJ Designs later that same year. Five years married and new storefront owners, the Montoya family EJ Designs owner Sebastian Montoya embroiders an “in my sourdough era” T-shirt for sale. He opened his business’ first storefront with his wife, Makayla De Jong, on Wednesday, April 17, in downtown Sheldon. Photo submitted knows how to grow from the ground up. Doing much of the storefront work themselves, Montoya and De Jong built the cashier desk with their own recycled floor panels. In addition, De Jong said they were able to find another embroidery machine online, also helping to grow the business. “We just got a second one, we actually made a trade with someone on Facebook. We just got it like this last week, and it’s been amazing,” she said. “It’s such a game-changer to have two.” Montoya and De Jong’s new location in Sheldon will serve as an ondemand print shop while they also continue to take orders online across the country. Prices will remain low with $15 T-shirts, adding only a few dollars for embroidery depending on stitch count and the number of colors. Working in the opposite direction of a typical small business, De Jong said she and her husband look forward to serving many customers from coast-to-coast but hope to focus on making a bigger impact in the region, too. “I hope that we can keep growing,” she said. “Right now, we serve a lot of people out of state, and I hope that we can grow that local business as well.”
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