Page 19 - BusinessWest March 31, 2021

members who had private offices that were being funded by their compa- nies. At their businesses, they were the remote workers,” she went on. “But, because everything was now remote, that benefit went away for a lot of our members, so we lost a handful.”
When Click reopened at the end of May, around 55 members were still supporting the space, paying their dues, even though not everyone was coming in regularly — usually, no more than a dozen at a time through last summer. A few members actually joined during the pandemic — some with their career situations in flux, others who needed a place to work because their homes were suddenly too crowded by partners and kids working and learning remotely.
But it wasn’t enough. “Right now, we’re down to less than 30 members, which is a huge drop in revenue,” Yun said. “Right now, our membership is lower than when we first moved into this building almost six years ago.”
“People are saying, ‘I’m sick of living in the city and running the rat race. I can live where the living is good but keep my big-city job.’ I feel co-working spaces are an early indicator of trends that will benefit towns, especially towns with great, walkable downtowns.”
finding, now that the vaccine is being distributed and the sun is shining, so to speak, we’re getting a surge of new interest recently as people are starting to feel more comfortable coming back into the world. People are sick of work- ing from home.”
As a consultant for a Boston-based company that used to have four offices there and now maintains just one, Sau- ser sees first-hand the way workplaces are evolving — and in a way that may benefit co-working facilities.
“People don’t come into work every day anymore. We expect more
Co-work
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Mary Yun expects membership to rise to
its former high levels after the pandemic fades, but it may be a gradual process.
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The basic concept behind co-work- ing is simple. It’s a workspace where people can share a table or an office; access fast internet service and shared resources like a copier, conference rooms, and audio-visual equipment; and make the kinds of connections that inspire further growth and success.
The pandemic has impacted the model in the short term, but the peo- ple operating area co-working spaces believe it’s a model with plenty of potential in the long term, and perhaps even more than before COVID-19.
“Like most businesses, we definitely lost some business,” said Jeff Sauser, who co-owns Greenspace CoWork
in downtown Greenfield with Jer-
emy Goldsher. “No one knew what to expect, and we managed to be as flex- ible as possible with members; those relationships are important to us. We gave every opportunity to pause mem- bership and make changes.
“We lost a chunk of member-
ships — not everybody; some stayed on, even though they weren’t coming as often — but we were able to stay afloat and survive,” he went on. “We’re
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