CARY, N.C. — WeWork, a leader in office sharing spaces, filed for bankruptcy this week. According to the company, WeWork has a presence in 39 countries with almost 800 locations including Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte.

The bankruptcy filing comes as many companies shift away from remote work, which has become more common since the pandemic, and organizations are now requiring people to get back into the office.

Alison Rogers is the founder of Blush Cowork in Cary and says she opened it after searching for the kind of shared office space that she dreamed of as a working mom.

“Open hot desking space and today we have the Raleigh Metro area SHRM, which is the Society for Human Resources Management. They’re doing their strategic summit here,” Rogers said. “It’s so nice to see it full and people enjoying the space and using the space as it was intended to be used. To gather and learn and work.”

Rogers says Blush now has 65 members, and it’s common to see strollers nearby because they also offer on-site childcare.

“A place to work, a place to be close to their child, a place to be able to go after a promotion or a new job or even open their own business,” Rogers said.

When she heard WeWork filed for bankruptcy, she says she wasn’t too concerned about her business.

“For people like me who are doing it on like a small level independently, it doesn’t feel like we’re even in the same industry because like I said, I’m trying to build a community and they’re trying to build an empire,” Rogers said.

As more people head back to the office, Rogers says she hasn’t felt a major shift at Blush.

“I know the trends that I’ve been seeing in the industry, and I just I don’t think that this is as worrying as people might think,” Rogers said.

In fact, she feels being a locally owned coworking space is an advantage in this industry.

“What we’re building here is really community and that’s what draws people to the space more so than just having a physical place to work,” Rogers said.

Rogers says she gets a lot of requests, people wondering whether Blush will expand to places like Durham, Chapel Hill and Wake Forest. She didn’t give any plans away, but says she’s excited to see what the future has in store for coworking.

WeWork cited rising competition in the coworking space as one reason for the bankruptcy filing. Despite that filing, WeWork says it still has half a million members.

As for WeWork’s locations in North Carolina, the company says there aren’t any plans to close those spaces as of right now.