Monday, January 16, 2017

Barre 3 Studio Opens in Bedford Marketplace

A permanent sign for the new Barre 3 location has just been approved and should be up in about three weeks.
The Bedford Barre 3 Studio is now open at 158 Great Road in Bedford Marketplace.

Barre which was inspired by Ballet, was named after the wooden bar Ballet dancers hold onto when they’re doing their warm-up exercises. It was developed in Europe and brought over to the United States in the 1970's. From that, several different versions of Barre evolved. Barre 3 was created by Sadie Lincoln out of Portland Oregon who then opened her first Barre 3 studio in 2008. Barre 3 has seen a surge in popularity over the past five years and now has 108 locations.

I recently spoke with the Barre 3 Studio Owner and Franchisee Natasha Groblewski. Natasha grew up in Lexington just outside of Bedford. After College she went out to Portland Oregon where she was introduced to Barre 3. She loved it and had a dream of opening her own studio but she first decided she would need to learn a lot of different skills to maximize her chances of success.

In 2010 she moved back to Massachusetts. She then worked a variety of jobs with focus on specific areas including HR and Consulting as well as with a number of startups to hone her entrepreneurial skills. In 2015 she became a certified instructor at the Needham Barre 3 Studio and started to study the business model. In 2016 she decided she was ready to move forward with her own Studio and began looking for the right space. Her first choice was the renovated Bedford Marketplace but this space was under agreement. Shortly after, she found out the deal with the other tenant had fallen through. She jumped at the opportunity as this was her dream location. She remembers coming to the shopping center as a kid to shop at Marshall's and eat at Cafe Luigi's. The Bedford location is the 2nd in Massachusetts with locations in Brookline and Sudbury expected to open shortly.

Natasha explained that the Barre 3 is a combination of thee disciplines; Yoga, Pilates and Ballet. The classes which are open to everyone, are designed to target the arms, legs and core. While the classes see age ranges from about 20 to 80 years old, they tend to be mostly female. The average person goes to 2 to 3 one hour classes per week. According to Natasha, many of her new clients get convinced by a friend to try one class. They usually love the community focus and tend to find the classes fun and energizing.

The Studio offers a cork floor which is designed to reduce heavy impact on the joints.
Unlike some other fitness classes like Yoga which may have different levels, Barre 3 offers one level of classes. The postures can be easily modified to accommodate injuries and physical challenges. The classes are generally considered low impact and makes use of interval training. Each class is led by a Barre 3 certified instructor. Natasha mentioned that the certification process is fairly long and detailed to ensure each instructor is well trained.

The Studio offers childcare for parents with young children
The studio averages about 5-6 classes a day during the week (early morning, lunch time and after work) and 2 classes on Saturdays and Sundays. The Bedford Studio, which can hold up to 27 people at one time, offers childcare during most classes.

While you can pop in to most classes, Natasha recommends making use of the online scheduling tool via their web site or app to ensure there is space in the class.

Front desk at the new Studio.
According to Natasha, drop in classes are $25. You can also buy 5, 10 or 20 classes packs at a slightly lower per class rate. For those people that expect to attend a lot of classes, Barre 3 offers a monthly unlimited pass (currently $99) that lets you attend as many classes as you want. Unlike some other fitness places that have a one or two year contract, with Barre 3 you go month to month and the starting monthly rate you pay is locked in as long as you continue each month. The monthly membership also gives you access to hundreds of different fitness videos from their workout library and recipes. In fact Natasha herself provided some of the recipes.

Along with classes, Barre 3 apparel and accessories are available for purchase.
The studio has five instructors including Natasha. For the grand opening week, they are offering both free classes and free childcare.

Comments:
The past year has seen a surge of Barre studios opening in Massachusetts such as Pure Barre and Xtend Barre which are in Burlington. It will be interesting to see if this surge continues.

It's good to see an entrepreneur follow a focused approach to fulfill their dream. Most of the time, people either jump in to a business without realizing some of the skills they will need to learn or they convince themselves they are not going to be ready and thus never take the plunge.



2 comments:

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Ballett is truly an art form and I have seen many people passionate about something like Ballett. Its a great workout, keeps you healthy and flexible, in the right shape to face any physical challenge

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