A local fitness studio owner is pumping up her offerings with a new space geared toward weightlifting.
Niche Pilates Studio is set to open a companion strength training studio at 1431 W. Main St. in the Fan, next door to its existing space at 1435 W. Main St.
Spanning 2,700 square feet, the new space, also under the Niche Pilates Studio name, will offer weightlifting, cardio and strength training to people who want to tone their muscles in a more intimate setting than a traditional gym.
Niche founder and owner Jaclyn Forrester said she hopes to open the doors on the strength training studio sometime this summer after leasing the space last month.
A Richmond area native, Forrester has been in the fitness industry since 2007, serving as a yoga instructor, Pilates instructor and personal trainer after receiving a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Radford University.
Forrester opened Niche Pilates in 2017 in a 300-square-foot space downtown before moving to a larger location after a few years. She later upsized again to her current 3,500-square-foot location on Main Street in 2024.
The Pilates studio has space for up to 16 participants at a time with equipment, and offers a mix of classes in mat Pilates, Pilates on a reformer machine and tower Pilates with a machine. The studio offers both in-person and online instructor training, as well as private and semiprivate sessions.
Forrester said that, with her own interest in strength training, she has wanted to open a companion strength training studio for several years, and it finally came to fruition this year after the next-door space opened up.
“My roots are in exercise science, so personal training and group class training from a strength perspective are how I started out,” she said.
Niche Strength Studio will open this year at 1431 W. Main St. (Jackie DiBartolomeo photo)
“Everything being in one space is super important to me,” she added. “It’s kind of what I wanted to do from the outset, but it takes time to grow.”
The strength studio will have a dedicated strength studio space, a filming area to make YouTube workout tutorials and an office area.
Forrester said strength training participants will enter through the same entrance as the Pilates studio and walk across an existing garden courtyard between the two buildings.
The new studio will have cable machines, TRX bands, cardio equipment and benches and dumbbells. It will offer group classes and personal training. The studio also will offer a package where clients can come in and work out on their own on some of the machines, using Niche’s workout videos or working independently on their own routines, similar to how the Pilates studio operates.
“There will be dedicated times where people can sign up for just coming in to utilize the strength part of the gym or the cardio part of the gym,” she said. “When people sign up, we will make sure there is adequate space there.”
Pricing for strength classes will be the same as Niche’s Pilates classes. Group classes start at $22 for one and $42 for two, while private sessions start at $100 per class, with options like a private four-class pack for $360. Membership ranges from $80 to $336 monthly, depending on how many classes a customer selects. The studio operates on a credit system.
Forrester said that while gym options abound in the Richmond area, she believes Niche can offer a more elevated, small studio-based strength training experience.
“People get used to coming to a studio, and the people that are used to that love that type of environment. It’s polished, it’s clean, it’s lavender towels at the end of the workout,” she said with a laugh. “It’s the community that you’re already used to.”
Niche Pilates Studio has 24 part-time and full-time employees, Forrester said. She plans to bring in two to three strength training-specific instructors to teach in the adjacent space.
