SoulCycle Launches New Studio Concept ‘SoulAnnex’ In NYC

NEW YORK, United States — US spinning phenomenon SoulCycle has launched a new studio concept in New York, minus its core cycling offering.

SoulAnnex, located in the Flatiron District, offers three new modalities, taught by SoulCycle instructors.

Classes that fall under MOVE will encourage participants to ‘feel the beat and embrace the rhythm’, DEFINE will feature HIIT style workouts to sculpt strong muscles, and ALIGN sessions will work to improve core strength through active recovery.

With no bikes involved, it’s a bold move from a brand that’s built its business around them, however, according to SoulCycle ‘it’s never been about a bike’.

Instead, the studio’s Instagram page encourages its followers to do whatever’s good for the soul, feeding into the brand’s mission of creating happiness and empowerment through exercise.

Launched in Manhattan a decade ago, SoulCycle has revolutionised indoor cycling, acquiring cult-like status throughout the US. The ubiquitous brand, which now boasts over 80 studios in cities including New York, Los Angeles and Toronto attracts over 10,000 riders per day.

When recently quizzed on the company’s success CEO Melanie Whelan told Forbes: “It’s not one thing, it’s a thousand things. It’s how we design our booking app, the candles on the front desk, the phone chargers in the lockers, the instructors on the podium, and the way we follow up with you. In our heart, we are not a fitness company but a hospitality company.”

Building on demand for its indoor-cycling classes, SoulCycle hopes that SoulAnnex will give devotees a place to ‘move, define, and align in a new way’ to complement their favourite SoulCycle rides.

As with Soulcycle, SoulAnnex customers will be encouraged to integrate classes into part of a healthy lifestyle, and to form new relationships.

Afterall, “it’s not just a workout but a community,” argues Whelan.

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