The Practice – Toronto, Ontario
New facilities in Toronto, Montréal, Pickering and Calgary reflect continued investment in Pilates, integrated wellness and upgraded fitness experiences.
By FitBizWeekly Staff
Canada’s fitness and wellness landscape has added several new destinations over the past two months, ranging from independent Pilates studios to a multi-level Toronto wellness concept and a significantly expanded hotel fitness facility in downtown Calgary.
Here are several recent openings now welcoming members and guests.
The Practice – Toronto, Ontario
Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood has welcomed The Practice, a new 6,000-square-foot wellness destination at 360 Davenport Road.
Spread across four floors, the concept brings together psychotherapy, life and career coaching, yoga, meditation, breathwork, sound baths, red light therapy, lymphatic treatments and other wellness services. The facility also includes a café, retail area, event spaces and rooftop patio.
Founded by mental health professional Sara Jackson, The Practice is designed around a broader interpretation of wellness that combines mental health services with movement, recovery and community experiences. The facility officially announced its opening in August.
Calgary Marriott Downtown – Calgary, Alberta
The Calgary Marriott Downtown Hotel has completed a major renovation of its fitness facilities, opening a new 2,850-square-foot fitness centre that the hotel describes as one of the largest and best-equipped hotel fitness facilities in Calgary.
The space includes cardio and strength equipment, free weights, functional training areas and dedicated space for stretching, mobility and recovery. A separate movement studio has also been incorporated for yoga, mat Pilates, Zumba and other instructor-led programming.
The fitness centre forms part of a wider shift in hospitality toward more substantial fitness and wellness amenities for travellers who want to maintain established training routines while away from home. The facility is available to hotel guests.
Arise Pilates – Montréal, Québec
Arise Pilates is now open in Pointe-aux-Trembles in Montréal following an August 24 launch.
The studio offers both reformer and mat Pilates, with programming ranging from beginner-focused Foundations classes to more progressive strength, mobility and jumpboard-based formats.
Located at 1300 Boulevard Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Arise was created as a mother-daughter venture and has positioned itself around accessible, progressive Pilates programming for a range of experience levels.
CINCH Studios – Pickering, Ontario
CINCH Studios officially opened in Pickering in August, adding another independent boutique concept to the growing Durham Region fitness market.
The approximately 3,000-square-foot studio combines traditional reformer Pilates with the company’s higher-intensity Cinchformer training format. Three dedicated movement areas accommodate reformer, high-intensity reformer and mat programming, while an in-studio matcha café adds a social and hospitality component to the concept.
The founders are positioning CINCH as a local alternative for Durham Region residents seeking boutique fitness options without travelling into Toronto.
AYOKA – Toronto, Ontario
Toronto has also added AYOKA, a new Pilates and lifestyle concept at 1416 Bayview Avenue.
The facility combines reformer Pilates with a café offering coffee, matcha and functional beverages, along with personalized fitness and nutrition coaching. Its studio model includes both instructor-led sessions and self-guided reformer workouts using in-studio digital programming, providing members with greater flexibility outside scheduled class times.
AYOKA describes the concept as an integrated approach to movement and nourishment rather than a traditional stand-alone workout studio.
A Broader Mix of Fitness and Wellness
While Pilates remains particularly prominent among recent independent studio openings, these facilities also illustrate a broader change in how Canadian operators are defining the fitness experience.
Cafés, recovery, mental wellness, mobility, social areas and flexible programming are increasingly being incorporated alongside traditional exercise. Even outside the boutique sector, the Calgary Marriott investment demonstrates how expectations around fitness facilities are expanding into hospitality and other adjacent industries.
The recent openings provide another snapshot of a Canadian market in which fitness, wellness and hospitality are increasingly overlapping, while smaller independent operators continue to introduce specialized concepts at the local level.
