‘It’s totally devastating’: After nearly 10 years, downtown Boise business to close

The coronavirus pandemic has ended another Boise business — one that will weigh heavily on the city’s yoga community.

Sage Yoga & Wellness, 242 N. 8th St., will close at the end of the month, owner Marisa Weppner announced on Facebook.

The downtown business in the Fidelity Building has operated for almost a decade.

In an emotional video, Weppner explained that economic factors related to COVID-19 have made it “impossible to be open.”

Rent downtown is “really, really, really, really high,” Weppner said, adding that the decision was “really hard. Lots and lots of tears. And lots of grief and sadness.”

Weppner said that she’s proud of the work that she and other Sage teachers have done, and of how the culture has grown locally in the past decade. But Sage’s fate became clear in recent weeks.

“As you can imagine, it’s totally devastating and absolutely heartbreaking,” she said, “not just for me, but for our teachers and all of the sages in this community.”

A cofounder of Yogafort at downtown’s annual Treefort Music Fest, Weppner said that she and other Sage teachers will continue providing services in the Boise area. Sage currently offers online Zoom classes only. She also intends to create a Facebook group for the Sage community.

“It’s been an incredible, beautiful, magical, more amazing journey than I could have ever imagined,” she said. “Sage has definitely been my life and my livelihood for these past 10 years, and it’s been so hard to live through this transition with the studio having been closed for now the past months, and now into the future.”

Dozens of Facebook commenters expressed their gratitude to Weppner, along with their sorrow about the closure.

Brushing back tears, Weppner thanked Sage’s clientele.

“I appreciate your love and support so much,” she said.

This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 1:46 PM.