Carpe Diem exercise studio expands in new digs.

Byline: Retail Notebook by The Register-Guard

SEIZE THE DAY: Shawn Healey is looking for people with cancer or those who have difficulty losing weight, among other health problems.

Healey isn't a doctor but the owner of Carpe Diem, a Eugene exercise studio that specializes in yoga and movement classes, resistance training and other exercises. Healey and his staff offer personal instruction and group sessions.

Carpe Diem is not for people who want to work out on their own as they do in a conventional health club. Instead, Healey and his personal trainers focus on people who may struggle with motivation and those with medical problems that can benefit from exercise.

In November, Carpe Diem moved from a Lawrence Street building downtown to 436 Charnelton St., formerly occupied by the Eugene School of Ballet.

With the start of the year, Healey wants to offer a program geared for cancer patients and survivors.

"CancerFit," developed by an Arizona-based exercise physiologist, is an eight-week personalized exercise course that Healey says is suited to people who may feel intimidated working out in a standard health club or those who don't have much exercise experience.

Healey, a University of Oregon graduate, started Carpe Diem in 1999 after working as a personal trainer in Eugene.

Moving to the building owned by Carlton Simons gives his business twice as much space as it had on Lawrence Street. In spite of the extra space, Healey said, his rent only has gone up about 10 percent. He said he got a deal because he agreed to renovate the 7,000-square-foot space, a commitment that took a lot of exercise.

"We must have put 50 gallons of paint on the walls," he said.

MOVED MODEMS: These days, people and businesses need to keep their computers humming.

That's why Eugene mortgage company owner Jim Dutton didn't mind after the computer firm he uses - ComputerBase - moved from Oakway Center to Valley River Village off Goodpasture Island Road.

The five employees at ComputerBase assemble personal computers from components made by different manufacturers, as well as perform repairs and upgrades on PCs whether they make them or not.

ComputerBase opened its Valley River Village store on Dec. 1 in the 1-year-old building occupied by The Cleanery and The Daily Bagel. It cost about $30,000 to design and build the store in a previously unfinished 1,100-square-foot part of the building, said manager Michael Chang.

Dutton, who owns Home Loan Services, was at the store on Monday, picking up a couple of repaired desktop workstations.

He said he doesn't mind having to schlep the hardware a bit farther from his Country Club Road office. The extra distance is more than made up by the staff's technical expertise and the store's reasonable prices, he said.

Written by business reporter Ed Russo. Retail Notebook runs Thursdays. To include items, call 485-1234, Ext. 2359, or e-mail [e-mail].