We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adrienne McCall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Adrienne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

With Pure Barre Richardson, it’s always been important to me that our clients feel known and included. Boutique fitness has a reputation for being intimidating and “clique-y”. We work really hard to combat that culture. I make a huge effort to ensure my staff know our clients names, introduce new clients to veterans, and seek to connect anyone that is left out from a conversation. It’s really cool to watch clients come out of their shell, meet new people, and grow connected to the community. A lot of my clients have met their best friends through Pure Barre.

From a business perspective, (especially coming out of a pandemic), being able to connect people is a real value-add for clients,
which helps manage attrition.

In an industry heavily focused on “churn and burn”, we stand out with well-above-average retention rates.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got started with Pure Barre because I grew up dancing but had to quit after 12 years due to injury. I found Pure Barre right after graduating high school and quickly fell in love with the workout. Finding something that was musically focused reminded me of
dance. Pure Barre is also low impact which was a game changer for my joint problems. I was able to get a great workout and not experience the pain I was used to.

After being a client for about 6 months the owner of that location asked me to become an instructor. I completed training in Denver, Colorado and became the youngest instructor in a network of almost 500 Pure Barre locations.

After teaching classes for about 2 years I knew I wanted to do Pure Barre full time. I had fallen in love with Pure Barre and saw how it was changing the lives of my clients.

I became the owner of Pure Barre Richardson in 2019.

Pure Barre is a high intensity, low impact workout. We focus on small movements combined with resistance to create an effective full body workout. We offer several unique class types that allow you to cross-train all in one place. With Pure Barre you get everything you need in a workout routine — from cardio, to balance, and even mobility training.

My favorite thing about Pure Barre is that our classes are all one level, but our movements are scalable. Clients are able to chose to modify, do the exercise as prescribed, or add additional challenges. This means that ANYONE can do Pure Barre.

We have clients that haven’t worked out in years, those with injuries, and also very high-level athletes that are all able to take class and see incredible benefits. While others will imitate, Pure Barre was founded in 2001 and was the original barre class. We’ve spent decades perfecting the craft, and our instructors go through rigorous training. We take a hands-on, personalized approach to ensuring each client gets the most out of a class.

I take so much pride in my team of instructors and how they love on our clients.

My goal is that the hour our clients spend taking class is the best hour of their day. Working out should be fun. It should be energizing. It should make you feel strong. It should give you confidence. My team inspires all of that and more in each class they teach.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

Yes, I bought an existing location 2 years after it opened. In DFW there were a limited number of available territories for the Pure Barre Franchise.

I wanted to stay close to Dallas, so buying an existing location made the most sense for me. I already worked at Pure Barre Richardson. I approached the owner and initially she was uninterested, however about 6 months later she came back to me and had changed her mind.

I’ve since seen many of my peers buy and sell studios. Being a transfer owner is always difficult because your team is established.

I’ve seen so many new owners walk in guns blazing ready to completely change everything, before they fully understand the business. I think it’s important to approach things with the humility that you are the new kid on the block. Spend lots of time understanding your staff and what their needs are. Find ways to fill their unmet needs before you start changing the overall business structure.

Remember that your employees didn’t initially sign up to work for you. Communicating with them is key to building trust and starting to establish a new team culture.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Consistently investing in digital marketing has allowed us to increase our lead volume and improve our overall conversion rates. I stay connected with our marketing manager on a weekly basis to make small tweaks to our campaigns. We’ve seen a major difference is our lead quality, and I’m proud to say we have some of the best ROI on ad spend in our franchise system.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.purebarre.com/location/richardson-tx
• Instagram: @purebarrerichardson
• Facebook: purebarrerichardson
• Linkedin: Adrienne (Marshall) Mccall
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pure-barre-richardson-richardson

Image Credits
Jarrett Stone