Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/642573
LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3.16 25 Wild and Woolly owner Todd Brashear announced in January 2015 that he would close his 18-year-old video rental store, a relic in the Netfix era. As closing day neared, the for-sale collection dwindled, exposing more and more of the Oz-green shelves. Prices dropped from $9.99 to $7.99, then on down to $2.99, when the stickered staff picks had all but vanished. On the last day, a couple of kids wandered throughout the Bardstown Road store, fipping through B-movies and straight-to- DVD rom-coms as their dad explained to them the signifcance of the city's last locally owned and curated video store. Brashear cited the brooding climate of the business as the main reason for closing. That was expected. But he also mentioned his desire to become a Pilates instructor, which probably puzzled more than a few people beyond his inner circle. He tells me a story about how, three years ago, his shoulder froze. He's not sure what caused the injury, but Pilates' strengthening movements helped him heal. Thinking of what to do once renting videos to a shrinking patronage for a few bucks a pop became unfeasible, he thought: Why not teach Pilates? Brashear, 46, says he has less free time now than when he had the store, a space he has since leased to Alabama-based gourmet popsicle company Steel City Pops ("Lot of offers from e-cig stores," he says. "Nothing against e-cigs, but there's just so many and it seems like a fash in the pan"). Later this summer, he will fnish his 950 hours of training with the Pilates Center in Boulder, Colorado, and with his host advisor at Core Fluency Pilates on Frankfort Avenue. He won't open his own Pilates studio right away. "I'm not gonna rush into it immediately. This is a long-term choice," he says. "Since I'm male, I can get some other dudes to realize this isn't something only women do. I'm not a super-ft human, just kind of a regular person. It's not just for ballerinas and super-ft people." — Mary Chellis Austin WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO? A T E V E R E N E D T O ? clifoncenter.org mortons.com/louisville