HOTSEAT
also had people who wanted to do both yoga classes and go to a gym, so it made sense to add fitness facilities. For many people, working out is a
social thing, somewhere they can meet people, which is why we decided to add a restaurant. Our restaurant is not a health farm – you can have cham- pagne, a gin and tonic, a chocolate pudding. It’s a full service restaurant. People come in, they do some yoga, or a core workout, they can go and relax in our restaurant. It’s all about a balanced lifestyle. Also we’re trying to build a commu-
nity, and this ties in with that. We hold a lot of member events, parties and corporate events at the restaurant.
Does the restaurant incorporate the Pure Yoga philosophy in any way? No, not really. If you walked into the restaurant, you wouldn’t think it was connected to the gym or yoga studio. It’s a place for people to go for a beer or a meal after their classes.
You linked up with Equinox to launch Pure Yoga in New York in 2008. How did this partnership come about? About five years ago the Equinox man- agement team came here and looked at our studios. They loved the yoga – it was something they wanted to get into, and they could see we were years ahead of what they wanted to do. They expressed an interest in doing some- thing with us in North America. From our point of view, our focus is on Asia; we have enough to do here. We thought that we weren’t going to open in North America for many years, if at all, so it made sense to team up with Equinox. They’re great operators, they run amazing clubs and they know what they’re doing. They have two studios, and are looking to grow and expand as well. It was great for our brand. They do all the heavy lifting so it’s not a distraction for us.
PURE GROUP TIMELINE
FROM A SINGLE YOGA STUDIO IN HONG KONG WITH JUST TWO TEACHERS, THE PURE GROUP HAS GROWN TO 20 FACILITIES ACROSS FOUR COUNTRIES
January 2002 Pure Yoga at The Centrium, Central, Hong Kong August 2002 Pure Yoga at Soundwill Plaza, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong December 2003 Pure Fitness at Kinwick Centre, SoHo, Hong Kong August 2004 Pure Fitness at ifc Mall, Central, Hong Kong September 2004 RED Bar + Restaurant at ifc Mall, Central, Hong Kong March 2005 Pure Yoga at The Peninsula Office Tower, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong November 2005 Pure Yoga at Ngee Ann City, Orchard Road, Singapore April 2006 Pure Yoga at Pure Tower, Taipei, Taiwan August 2006 Pure Yoga at Langham Place Office Tower, Mong Kok, Hong Kong May 2007 Pure Fitness at Langham Place Office Tower, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
September 2007 Pure Yoga at Chevron House, Singapore November 2007 Pure Yoga at TaiKoo Place, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong June 2008 Pure Yoga in New York, a joint venture with Equinox July 2009 Pure Bar + Restaurant at Kinwick Centre, SoHo, Hong Kong
December 2009 Pure Yoga second location in New York, a joint venture with Equinox August 2010 Pure Fitness at Knightsbridge, Orchard Road, Singapore September 2010 Pure Fitness at Fairmont House, Admiralty, Hong Kong November 2010 Pure Urban – Pure Yoga second location at Urban One, Taipei February 2012 Pure Fitness at Asia Square, Marina View, Singapore September 2012 Pure Fitness at Lee Theatre Plaza, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
How do you find your yoga instructors?
When we first opened it was very diffi- cult recruiting teachers – we were trying to persuade people to come over from America and other parts of the world. Now we run our own teacher training programme, so we can cherry pick the best students from that programme. We have really put an emphasis on
creating an environment where teach- ers can be constantly challenged and can grow. We have a comprehensive internal assessment and continu- ing education programme, we have monthly studio meetings and we have a scholarship programme where teach- ers can take two months off to learn yoga in the US or India, and we’ll sub- sidise that. Because we have such a good programme there’s quite a lot
We have a scholarship programme where teachers can take two months off to
study yoga in the US or India and we will subsidise that. We have a very good retention rate among our teachers
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of interest in any positions we have, and we have a very good retention rate among our teachers.
Can you describe the design of your studios? Design is a big focus – it has to com- plement and enhance the experience. The fitness and yoga studios offer quite a different experience – for the yoga studios we use a warmer colour pal- ette and the music is softer, while the fitness centres are brighter, the tem- perature is cooler and the music is louder. The fitness and yoga offers are completely separate, with separate entrances and changing rooms. We do a lot of the design in-house, and we also bring in exterior designers from time to time.
When did you start offering Pure Retreats? Around six or seven years ago. We have done Pure Retreats in Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Philippines, Bali, China, Taiwan, Bhutan and New Zealand. Next year we’re doing Namibia. We have a community of students in Hong Kong who come to the studio on a regular
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