The women-only coworking space that inspired millennials spreads its wings for the last time

The Wing, a women-only coworking space that defined the "millennial pink" and "girlboss" era, is closing its doors for good.

The coworking company informed its members via email on Tuesday that its six other coworking spaces will be closed, effective immediately.

Founded in New York in late 2016, The Wing had expanded to 11 locations in two countries at its peak, Insider reported.

In 2018, The Wing raised nearly $43 million. At the time, co-founder Audrey Gelman said women everywhere wanted to get their own all-female coworking space in their city.

"We've been blown away from day one," Gelman told Entrepreneur at the time.

"We've had members who have started businesses together. We've seen lawyers leave their white shoe law firms and start their own firms together, and then they represent other women at The Wing," said she added.

But things quickly started to go downhill for The Wing, and not just because of the pandemic.

In March 2020, the NYT published an article about The Wing employees saying they were overworked and underpaid and had to deal with members who were "easily racist" towards employees, said writes the outlet, and that Gelman's perfectionism has created "a culture of fear and secrecy," a former employee told The Times.

Gelman resigned in June 2020 and publicly apologized in October 2020.

Regarding its now permanent closure, as Insider noted, social media users seem more keen on getting their hands on The Wing's furniture.

The company has confirmed the closure to Contractor via a customer service email.

“The Refresh Club, Inc. d/b/a The Wing has closed permanently,” the email reads. "We have arranged for the workspace and membership needs to be fulfilled by IWG."

IWG is a global collection of coworking spaces that has been around since 2011. Its website says it adds a new space every day, on average.

IWG CEO Mark Dixon said the sites were closed because "members of The Wing were not using the six existing downtown sites and instead wanted to access the centers in the suburbs."< /p>

"Members had access to all the same facilities, services and events in many more locations through IWG's network of over 1,000 centers in the United States and 3,500 worldwide" , the company added.

The company did not respond to questions about the furniture issue.