11 Fitness and Foodie Openings You Should Be Excited About

Photo courtesy SoulCycle

Hide your wallets, people. Why, you ask? Because Philadelphia is getting a serious influx of awesome fitness studios and healthy-food heavens this winter and spring, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll probably (definitely) end up spending all your hard-earned money on rebounder classes and vegan cheesesteak sandwiches. At least, that’s what I’ll probably (definitely) end up doing.

Below, 11 sweet fitness and foodie businesses (SoulCycle! Another HipCityVeg! Snap Kitchen!) you can expect to see opening their doors around Philly over the next few months.

Dottie’s Donuts
Where: 4531 Springfield Avenue, West Philly
Target opening: Mid-February

The vegan donut geniuses behind Dottie’s, who’ve been distributing their goods to coffee shops and cafes around Philly for the past two years or so, are finally opening up their own shop — which will be overflowing with vegan goods, naturally — come the middle of February. Along with donuts, they’ll have bagels and specialty vegan cream cheeses, plus a sweet coffee setup.

Freehouse Fitness
Where: 1430 South Street, Grad Hospital
Target opening: Late February

Mini trampolines, people. Need I say more? This South Street studio will offer a slew of interesting classes, some using Pilates reformers and some using bands and rebounders. Before they open, you can get a feel for the workouts in the free pop-up classes owner Dana Auriemma is hosting all over town.

HipCityVeg
Where: 121 South Broad Street, Center City
Target opening: Spring

Along with taking their curry tofu wraps and udon noodle salads to the masses in D.C. this spring, the fast-casual vegan chain will be opening another location here, on Broad Street in Center City to be exact. Here’s to hoping more locations mean shorter lines when you’re dying to get your hands on a Groothie, are we right?

Orangetheory Fitness
Where: 1625 Chestnut Street, Center City
Target opening: Late February

This fitness studio, which has locations all around the country, will be setting up shop at the Shops at Liberty Place at the end of February. The studio’s signature one-hour workout works in three components: treadmill interval training, indoor rowing and weights or resistance training. The idea of the workout is to get you into the “orange zone,” where you’re working at 84 percent of your maximum heart rate for 12 to 20 minutes, which they say ups your afterburn. In normal human speak: Expect to work really hard and sweat a lot.

RippedPHL
Where: 1519 Walnut Street, Center City
Target opening: February 19th

Expect a nightclub vibe (dim lighting, loud music) and some serious sweat sessions at this soon-to-open fitness studio. They’ll be offering personal and small-group training, and they’ll have all sort of bells and whistles like heart rate monitors and personalized TV screens for each class participant. They’ll be opening their doors with a weekend of free classes (some with a DJ!) and healthier cocktails, so make sure to keep up with them on Facebook for info on those.

Snap Kitchen
Where: Multiple locations
Target opening: Early February

If the Whole Foods prepared foods section is your jam, this healthy market specializing in prepared foods (Peep their menu here), is about to be your home away from home. The Austin, Texas-based market is opening a whopping seven locations in Philly this year, with the first two (1901 Chestnut Street and 243 Market Street) opening in early February.

Solidcore
Where: 725 Chestnut Street, Washington Square West
Target opening: May

This studio is like the SoulCycle of the Pilates world. And by that, I mean it feels like a club, complete with blue lights and loud music, and people are obsessed. Since the studio’s launch in D.C. in 2013, they’ve opened nine studios and they keep on rolling ‘em out, with the first Philly studio opening here in May. The workout isn’t your typical Pilates workout, but it’s inspired by Pilates and is done on a reformer-like machine, so expect slow movements that burn big in the calorie department.

SoulCycle
Where: 2 Coulter Avenue, Ardmore
Target opening: Mid-May

And speaking of SoulCycle, the chain known for gathering cult-like followings wherever it sets up shop is coming to the Philly area (finally!) in May. They’ll be opening a 3,400-square-foot studio in Suburban Square with 58 bikes, and they say a second Philly-area location will probably follow shortly after, though no word on where.

The Wall Cycling Studio 
Where: 105-107 Cotton Street, Manayunk
Target opening: Mid-February

The Wall Cycling Studio will be moving into their bigger and better Manayunk location — complete with Spin AND barre studios — in February. Owner Juliet Sabella tells us the Spin studio should be open by February 1st but folks will have to wait until mid-February for barre.

Yoga Habit 
Where: 1640 Fairmount Avenue
Target opening: Mid-March

Remember way back in spring of last year, when we told you about a sweet new power-yoga studio that would be opening in Fairmount? Well, their plans got pushed back (they were hoping to be open last summer), but the time is almost here: The studio, which will fit about 50 yogis, should be open by the middle of March, just in time to help you sweat off your seemingly permanent winter chill.

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