Closing Burbank: The End of One Chapter, Not the End of the Story

I didn't think closing Burbank was going to be this hard. I knew it was the best business decision. I knew the numbers. I knew that times change and that sometimes you have to make difficult decisions if you want a business to continue to grow.

But knowing something in your head and feeling it in your heart are two very different things. Burbank has been part of The Muse Rooms for ten years… Ten years. That's a long time to build something and then let it go.

When you build a business from the ground up, you don't just build walls, put in desks and collect a monthly membership fee. You build relationships. You build memories. You build a community. You put pieces of yourself into it. And as I stand looking around at my now empty space, I am reminded of my first time here and of all the work we put into making it the amazing workspace it was.

Burbank was our second location. We opened it in 2016, taking everything we had learned from that first little space in NoHo and taking a big leap. It was exciting. It was scary. But it worked. We grew. People came through those doors and built businesses. Friendships were made. Collaborations happened. People found clients, partners, inspiration and sometimes just someone to talk to while making coffee. That has always been the point of The Muse Rooms. We aren’t just a desk. It’s about belonging.

But then we were hit with something none of us could have planned for. COVID.

We survived a global pandemic that shut down our industry and forced us to close our doors. Like so many small businesses, we had no idea what was going to happen next.

And then right as we came out of the covid chaos came something even more personal. I lost my husband Tim to cancer. Our cofounder, my business partner. The person who had been there from the beginning and helped me build this crazy idea into an actual business.

There really isn't a business plan for losing your husband and your business partner at the same time. There isn't a spreadsheet for grief. But somehow, I kept going. The Muse Rooms kept going. Burbank kept going. And that's something I am incredibly proud of.

There were plenty of times when I could have walked away or said, “I've had enough.” But I didn't. I kept showing up along side friends and members of my team. That's what makes closing Burbank so complicated. I'm not just closing a location. I'm closing a chapter of my life, a chapter I wrote with, Tim.

There are so many memories in that building. There are people who walked through those doors who became part of our story. There are events, conversations, celebrations, difficult days and really great days that happened there. And there are a million little moments that probably seem insignificant to anyone else but mean something to me. Every night that I left Burbank, I would turn and look at the space and think, “I love this place so much”.

So yes, saying goodbye hurts. But here's what I've learned after all these years: You can't see the future if you are constantly turned looking at the past. Sometimes you have to let go. And letting go doesn't mean you failed. Sometimes it means you've grown. The Muse Rooms has changed a lot since 2015. The brand has evolved. We've learned what works. We've learned what doesn't. We've learned what our members really need and, just as importantly, we've learned who we are.

I look at The Muse Rooms today and I see an elevated brand. I see a stronger vision. I see something that has survived. And I think that's important. Because we didn't just survive covid. We survived the loss of a founder, enormous personal and business challenges, the moments when the easy answer would have been to quit and we're still here!

That's not failure. That's resilience. So while closing Burbank is emotional, I also know it's time. Times change and we have changed. I'm definately not the same entrepreneur who opened that first location. I've learned so much and I'm not interested in going backward.

I want to take everything we've learned and move forward. Burbank gave us ten years and members who became friends. But most of all, it helped make The Muse Rooms what it is today.

So goodbye, Burbank. Thank you. Thank you for being part of our story. Closing you is hard. But I'm ready for what's next. Because after everything I've been through, I know one thing for sure: I'm still here. The Muse Rooms is still here. And we're not done.

Sometimes it takes courage to let one chapter end so the next idea has room to grow.

And I'm ready to turn the page.