New cycling studio coming to Atlanta
Cincinnati, Ohio-based CycleBar is planning to enter the metro Atlanta market. The first Atlanta location will be in Buckhead at Terminus. CycleBar will occupy a portion of the former Cantina restaurant on the Piedmont Road side of the building. (Fusion ATL, a fitness facility is located next door) The cycle studio will occupy 3000 square feet, leaving about 4500 square feet for other tenant(s.) The studio will offer customers covered access from the Terminus 100 offices and its parking deck.
This is the second time that Terminus owner Cousins has converted a former restaurant space to a different use in the complex. In 2011, Sub Zero and Wolf appliances opened a showroom on the second level of Terminus 100, replacing AquaKnox which closed the year before.
Unlike competitors SoulCycle and Flywheel, both based in New York, CycleBar is a franchise model. Started by Bill Pryor and his sister Alex Klemmer in 2004, CycleBar has only six locations open but over 120 "In Development" or "Coming Soon," according to its website.
According to the CycleBar website, the company is also targeting (an unspecified location in) Dunwoody for a second Atlanta area studio.
By comparison, SoulCycle operates 56 locations in eight states and D.C while Flywheel operates 33 locations in 11 states and D.C., plus a pair in Dubai.
CycleBar joins an ever-growing market for indoor cycling in Atlanta. Flywheel operates three locations: Buckhead, Midtown and Alpharetta, with smaller New York-based rival Cyc Fitness operating a single metro location inside Forum Athletic Club at Lenox Square. Local upstarts Torq Cycle Atlanta and Burn Studios operate single studios in West Midtown and Brookhaven respectively.
The Buckhead Flywheel location on West Paces Ferry Road near the St. Regis Hotel is reportedly the company's most profitable, according to Ruth Zukerman, the company's co-founder. Zukerman co-founded SoulCycle in 2006 before leaving and "starting over" with new partners, and opening Flywheel in 2010.
Flywheel Buckhead is expected to relocate to The Shops Buckhead Atlanta later this summer.
CycleBar hopes to capture market share by offering classes that undercut established brands like Flywheel. Although prices at all studios, regardless of brand, differ by a few dollars by market, CycleBar's existing studio in Katy, Texas offers classes for between $16-$22, depending on how many classes you buy at a time. Locally, Flywheel charges $28 per class but that cost can be reduced substantially by purchasing their "unlimited" monthly pass for $250. (If you went to just 20 classes a month on a monthly pass, your per class price would drop to only $12.50.)
Last year, Business Insiderreferred to CycleBar as the "up-and-coming fitness studio turning into SoulCycle's biggest threat."
SoulCycle does not operate any locations in Georgia, but its New York studios charge $35 per class but also offer "bulk pricing" when purchasing five or more classes.
Over the past month, SoulCycle teamed up with Target to bring three day pop-up studios to ten cities across the country. Atlanta's 200 Peachtree downtown was a tour stop last month and likely an indication that SoulCycle is gauging the interest locally in the brand in advance of a potential opening.
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