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Oct
Why Pilates studios are booming in the Harrogate district
Pilates is booming. In the last few years the Harrogate district has seen at least eight new studios launch, with planning applications submitted for more.
While the business model sounds simple – get a studio, buy equipment then run classes throughout the day and make your money back in no time – some studios have struggled to survive.
Ebru Evrim In Harrogate recently recently closed after just four years, leaving over £1 million of debt.
Ms Evrim cited rising premises costs as the reason for closing – especially the price of heating her hot yoga studio.
We spoke to some local instructors to find out what the secret to success is.
And one thing up came up time and time again.
“It’s all about the quality of teaching,” Emma Ryder, of Harrogate Pilates Studio said.
Emma Ryder
She explained how with such a personal service, clients want to have knowledgeable instructors who understand each individuals’ bodies and needs.
Ms Ryder continued:
You need consistency with instructors – people don’t want to see a new face each time they come to a class.
I dearly care about my instructors and clients. People have seen the trend [for Pilates] and tried to jump on it, they just pay instructors and use the business as a passive income.
You need people who are doing it for the right reasons, who have experience and trained on accredited courses.
Emma Turner, of The Pilates Space in Boroughbridge, had a similar theory on how to make your business successful.
She said:
All our trainers have a mat and Reformer Pilates certificate. We really push on our socials that our teachers know their anatomy – they’ve not done a weekend course, they’ve studied for six months. Clients appreciate it.
Emma Turner
When speaking to Danni Would, founder of ReforMR, she went straight to the point of trainers being key.
She said:
We are super-hot on trainers being qualified to the max. The quality of what we offer has to be high end, so we need high-quality instructors to match the higher price point.
I hand pick instructors, no one applies, and we go for coffee and speak about our values. I would rather not have a class on than have someone I don’t want teaching.
A whole experience
Many of the instructors put their success down to ensuring the whole experience of doing a class feels like a luxury – something a gym doesn’t offer.
Ms Would shares how her wooden Reformer beds were imported from Greece, her backlit mirrors are bespoke and that the studio even has its own scent.
She’s also picked the perfect location for an idyllic retreat – an old house in the countryside, with high ceilings, beams and exposed bricks.
Danni Would's studio
A community
A word that comes up time and again is community. Every single studio owner tells me how they know each individual client by name, with many adding that they know everyone’s history – from injuries and surgeries to the fact ‘that one side might be tight due to holding a toddler’.
Ms Turner also said a huge thing she focuses on is ensuring everyone ‘feels safe’ in the studio, no matter their background, size or ability. Her studio has clients aged everything from 18 to people in their 90s.
She added:
Anyone can open a studio – but you have to do it for the love of it rather than to just make money. You can tell if there’s heart and soul in it.
Ms Would explained how her Pilates community has grown with the introduction of memberships – which has also helped financially.
Her membership involves paying for a fixed number of classes per month, giving clients a discount per class and Ms Would a better idea of what income she’ll have that month. She also believes it’s brought a stronger sense of belonging.
Ms Turner takes the community idea even further, doing partnerships with other local businesses.
So far, she has partnered with new club HG5 Padel, hosted baby massage groups and done south bath sessions.
The financial side
What about expenses? Is Pilates a good money-maker?
Ms Turner said:
Wages are my biggest cost, I don’t have huge overheads. I invested in good quality equipment at the start – soft, thick mats and good quality reformer beds – because you want the product to feel expensive.
Top of the range Reformer beds can cost anything between £2,000 and £5,000, so to have a studio filled with six is a significant start-up cost.
But Reformer Pilates classes aren’t cheap.
In the Harrogate district, classes average at about £22 per session, costing slightly less if you buy in bulk or subscribe to a studio.
With studios running up to 40 classes a week, the initial investment is made back quite quickly.
Across the board, all studio owners say their biggest cost is staff.
Ms Would said:
My instructors make up a lot of my outgoings but without them the studio wouldn’t be what it is. They’re my biggest cost, but also my biggest asset.
Isla Miskelly
Isla Miskelly, of Core and Flow in Knaresborough, is business-minded, having worked at Disney, Sky and Live Nation.
She said:
Business rates are a nightmare. When we started we were one studio and we didn’t have the problems of taxes and VAT and business rates, but 25 years later with four studios we have to think of all that.
You have to go into it business minded, there aren’t the foundations out there to help you. No unions, it’s unregulated, so anyone can go to one Pilates class, think ‘I can do that’ and start a studio. People open studios as investments rather than for the love of it.
Ms Miskelly tells of how being business minded means making hard decisions – for instance, this summer she closed down her studio in Epping.
When they first opened in Essex there were barely any Pilates classes around, but now there are 17 studios within a 15-minute drive.
Happily, Ms Miskelly took all the equipment from the Epping studio and used it in her brand new Knaresborough studio.
So, it seems the way to make a successful Pilates business is clear.
You need good instructors, a sense of community and a true love of Pilates – not just an eye for a trend and a hope to make a quick buck.
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