The last time Kitsilano’s workout-then-brunch studio opened a second location, the doors opened one month before the pandemic, and that one closed.
The new attempt is on Main Street, and it opened September 2.
TurF, the fitness studio, cafe and shop hybrid that has run on West 4th since 2017, is now open at 3988 Main Street at East 24th in Mount Pleasant.
Hours are 8am to 4pm, seven days a week, for the September soft open.
The team is calling it a “soft’ish launch,” with a condensed class schedule and a lighter bistro menu, building toward the full Kits programming as the month goes on.
Founders Deanne and Delaney Schweitzer are sisters and Lululemon veterans, and Deanne spent 15 years at that company before leaving in 2015.
Their format packs a class studio, a coffee bar, a kitchen and an apparel shop into one room, and Kitsilano has kept it going for nine years.
The expansion record is the part worth knowing.
A downtown location at 1281 West Georgia opened in 2020, one month before the pandemic, and Deanne Schweitzer said in a 2022 interview that it closed because it was off-brand.
Main Street is the second try, and it is a bigger swing.
The storefront spanned what looked like three units when we spotted the signage in February, on the ground floor of the new six-storey rental building at Main and East 24th, on the same block as Ramen Danbo and Jo’s Italian Deli.
Inside, a pink tile counter runs a La Marzocco machine on coffee roasted by Moja, a pastry case of vegan loaves and muffins, and a “TurF n’ Go” fridge stocked with grab-and-go bowls, granola bags and drinks.
The chocolate zucchini loaf is vegan and runs $4.25, and the mixed berry muffin is vegan and gluten free at $4.75.
The soft-open menu leans on the Kits playbook: toasts with nut butter, mushroom ricotta, avocado or salmon lox, a Brekkie Sando and a tuna kimchi sando, protein pancakes, and a smoothie list with names like Muscle Werk and The Meta.
One line on that menu is worth reading before you order.
“We kindly decline modifications,” it says.
The specialty drinks include an Everyday Cookie latte, built on a house syrup of the cookie the sisters got into local grocery stores during COVID.
Retail is the third leg: a wall of house apparel, tote bags and water bottles beside the mat room, which sits under a red arched ceiling.
Once the schedule ramps up, the class menu mirrors Kits, from Mat Werk, a pilates-inspired mat class, to Strengthen with dumbbells and a Restore class built on yoga and breathwork.
TurF joins the list of recently opened food spots in Vancouver like Ninth Cup, Honest To Pete DT and Zab Bite Express.
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Address: 3988 Main Street, Vancouver, BC
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