ADRIAN — While its upcoming open house may showcase its entirety, one new facet of B.Fitness in Adrian will undoubtedly be the jewel of the event. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 17, the fitness center will be unveiling Studio Blu, its new fitness class space that will also serve as a hot room, during the event at its 212 Maine Ave. location.
First utilized as a fitness center 15 years ago by its former owners, partners in business and marriage Jesse and Erika Brake opened it as B.Fitness in 2022 to keep themselves busy and help provide for their three children.
“I have always been into fitness and Jesse was also into sports and stuff,” Erika shared. “When we started thinking about what I could do to help provide for the family, it was just like, ‘Oh, I think that the fitness center (would) be a great idea.’ We reached out to the previous owners and they were willing to sit down and talk about it.”
While there wasn’t a need for a fitness class space when the Brakes first started, it wouldn’t take long for one to appear, with classes of up to 25 people — mostly women — not being uncommon.
“We just started really small. I really didn’t have a whole lot of intentions of having a whole studio for this or anything,” Erika admitted. “(Around the time we opened), we had a girl named Jackie Slater who was running classes here three days a week for about a year. Last year, she reached back out saying that she was ready to start teaching again one day a week. I said that I would teach the other two days and that’s where it started. It was just like, ‘Let’s have classes and bring the community together. I think a lot of girls are ready to get out of their basements and look for a community to work out with.’”
The idea would be spurred on further by Jesse.
“I’m usually the one that pushes for making it so people feel welcome and come into a place like this,” he said of the center and studio. “(Erika) had the classes going already in that other room and it was working. I think Erika was wanting to cut a few corners and I was probably the opposite. I was like, ‘Let’s do it right the first time.’”
Work on turning what was once a tanning room in its past life to Studio Blu was a process that began at the end of October and is now left with some finishing touches to tune up just before Saturday’s open house. Right now, the space is equipped to host classes such as matte fusion, sculpt, strong, power core, kickboxing and pilates.
Studio Blu will serve as a space for both fitness classes and as a hot room, being able to reach temperatures of 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Samuel Martin / The Globe
One of the things that the two are looking forward to is the expansion and diversification of offered classes the space could facilitate in the future.
“I’ve hoped that (Erika’s) classes have been a success since she started and I feel like girls are now more (inclined) to want to do it. She started off three days a week and now she’s at five days a week with more instructors,” Jesse said. “We have young kids and I also envision youth coming in here. I would say this room opens the possibilities of eventually adding youth classes. I think there’s definitely a desire among parents to have something like that. I wish I had time in my day to be able to (lead such a class) but if we could find the right person, that would definitely be something we would be looking at doing.”
I’m looking forward to bringing something fun to the community and bringing a large town amenity to a small town.
Erika Brake
The two are also excited about what the expansion could mean to the community, the very same one that was instrumental in naming their new space.
“In my eyes, it means a lot to keep businesses local and to make it so that people want to stay in town instead of leaving town to go do things,” Jesse said. “We’re one of those families that would take our kids to Sioux Falls to have them go do something and pay money to bring them somewhere out of town. This is something we can offer and have people want to stay in town. I know some girls would be driving to Sioux Falls for these hot yoga classes and now we’re hoping that they don’t have to do that. Keeping business in town and supporting the community means a lot.”
“I love getting to know different people throughout the community. I’m looking forward to bringing something fun to the community and bringing a large town amenity to a small town,” Erika added. “For Studio Blu’s name, that was just something that came to me as I was driving. I was having a hard time trying to come up with a name. The word ‘community’ resonated with me when trying to name this place. The color blue is also part of the Adrian dragons and the city of Adrian also uses the color blue, I was like, ‘I just love that.’ We also emphasize the ‘u’ (in Studio Blu), it’s like, ‘We want this place to be for you.’”
Local fitness vendors and new Adrian businesses will also be attending B.Fitness’s open house, which is open to the public. To start a membership at B.Fitness or for more information, visit bfitness.adrian.com, B.Fitness’s social media profiles or call (507) 227-7684.
Samuel Martin became a reporter for The Globe in September 2023. He has a bachelor’s degree in media studies from the University of Sioux Falls.
