It’s been a while since I last did a studio review. I know that many new boutique studios have been sprouting up all over Singapore at a rapid rate, but I simply haven’t been going around trying new studios because I have a long term membership with Pure Yoga since July 2016 and I recently renewed my membership so I’ll be stuck with them for a while.
I added Pure Fitness (Gym) to my membership and this arrangement works for me because it is expensive to have a separate membership for other activities (like Barre) on top of my yoga membership. The rates varies depending on your membership duration and choice of outlets, but generally it only costs around $20 more a month to have both yoga and gym compared to just yoga alone. $20 can’t even pay for a single lesson in a boutique barre studio, so why not? (Please remember that $20 is just a rough estimate, the actual difference can vary depending on what you’re comparing it with.)
My membership gives me ALL access to ALL gyms and yoga studios of Pure in Singapore. Another sort of membership they offer is the cluster access, meaning only one Yoga + one Gym in one cluster location – Orchard, Raffles Place or Asia Square. This will be good for customers who work near one location and wish to have both yoga and gym access.
The newest addition to Pure in Singapore is Pure Yoga Suntec City. I have done a general review of Pure Yoga in an earlier post, so this post shall be to review the Suntec outlet specifically! All facilities provided are similar throughout all Pure Yoga in Singapore – same rules for towels, class booking, showers, mats, props etc.
Recently opened on May 21 2018, this newest location is located on the ground floor of Suntec City Mall Tower 2. This is quite different from other locations because the others are located within office towers. Being in the mall serves the convenience of not having to take office elevators or requiring access cards.
The Nood Food counter is strategically placed facing the entrance. This will allow the general public to walk past and grab a drink if they wish. Their smoothies and juices are not bad honestly, better than most typical smoothie chains you find in malls!
Also strategically placed facing the entrance is the Pure Apparel section. This almost looks like a retail shop on it’s own. Such location allows mall shoppers to purchase active wear like any other shop in the mall. Aside from their own brand, they carry imported brands like Alo Yoga as well. Alo Yoga currently does not have their own retail shop in Singapore and is only available online or at certain studios which stocks their products. For people who wish to shop for and try on Alo Yoga conveniently in a shopping mall instead of specifically going to individual studios, this is a good place to check it out.
A lovely wall mural will greet you in the lounge area.
Despite being in a mall, the layout allows for privacy of members hanging out in the lounge area. You definitely would be out of view from mall shoppers. A mobile charging station is available too, similar to all other Pure locations.
The layout of this studio is kind of different – the rooms and changing rooms are tucked away along this corridor and it may get confusing initially. As this is a shopping mall unit, there are no windows (no day light!) in most of the rooms except for one. I do not really prefer having no day light but I guess it isn’t top most priority.
They have 4 main yoga rooms (Yama, Niyama, Santosha, Drishti) and 2 small private yoga rooms. Wall Rope, Aerial and Hot yoga facilities is available in Suntec. (Currently only Chevron House outlet is not updated to facilitate Wall Rope and Aerial)
However, the rooms here are notably smaller than the other 3 Pure Yoga locations in Singapore. Compared to capacity of 50+ mats for the largest rooms of the other 3 locations, the biggest room here only has 37 mats. The second largest has 34 mats and these 2 rooms can be combined to be one large room if required for special events, but on regular days the classes will be capped at these numbers. For a mega studio with a lot of members, it may be hard to book classes during peak hours (or when there’s a popular teacher) in time to come when the studio gets on track. However, having smaller capacity is good in it’s own way too – you get more attention during class, similar to the class size of boutique studios.
I tried one non-hot class and one hot class at Suntec so far, and I shall say that the heat here is intense. I had the hot class in the Yama room and it’s too hot if you ask me! Hom Yoga have always been the hottest studio to me, but the heat here is on par, if not more. I always seek the coolest spot in the room, but in this case there is none. Even the spot nearest to the exit is not a cool spot. Perhaps the inner corner would be even hotter – I wouldn’t know, and cannot imagine. I attribute this to the size of the room being quite small and the ceilings being lower than the other locations.
For reference, here’s my hot meter:
Pure Yoga Chevron House/ Ngee Ann City (near the door): 6.5/10
Pure Yoga Asia Square (near the door): 7.5/10
Hom Yoga (near the door): 8/10
Hom Yoga (center of the room): 9/10
Pure Yoga Suntec City (anywhere in the room): 9/10
(Now closed) Bikram Yoga Katong: 10/10
Of course, heat lovers will love the intense heat. Personally my threshold of a reasonable hot class would be 7.5/10 kind of heat, 8/10 max.
Conclusion:
The location is actually the most convenient for me out of all Pure locations, since I come from the East and no matter whether I go to Orchard, Raffles Place or Asia Square, I will still need to pass by Suntec via the Nicoll Highway. The studio is located pretty near the bus stop and since there’s no need to wait for elevators, I like the convenience. However, this is subjective to individual circumstances. Objectively, the public transport options are quite good with Promenade Station (CC4/DT15) being the closest, and it is an interchange. The station is a rather big one and from the train doors to the studio you would need to budget around 5 minutes to get there comfortably. Via bus or car, the drop off points will be on the same ground level and it is very convenient to pop in, good for those who are running late.
The interior design of the studio and small details makes it looks like a high class and well polished studio, but the downside is that it can come across as kind of cold and not as cosy as most other studios. First impressions can be intimidating but after time you’ll get used to it.
The smaller rooms can be good or bad depending on how you interpret it, but it doesn’t really bother me. What bothers me is the lack of windows and daylight, but if the teacher is good I guess this can be forgiven.
If I were to consider yoga membership, I would suggest going for all access yoga instead of just Suntec City alone. Having other locations to access can allow me to attend some breathable hot classes and enjoy daylight in my morning classes. Suntec currently does not have a Pure Fitness outlet so I guess cluster membership will not apply to this location and if you want gym access you’ll need to get the all Singapore Pure Yoga & Pure Fitness membership.
#01-501, Suntec City Mall North Atrium
3 Temasek Boulevard
Singapore 038983
If you would like to have a 3 day trial (instead of the usual 1 class trial should you inquire directly) at any Pure Yoga outlet, let me know and I can get you a free trial. No commitment to purchase membership! This is a really good deal because other studios in Singapore usually charges for their trial!
Email me with your name and contact number and I’ll refer you if you’re interested.
melissa@coconasana.com
Promotion for Aug 2018:
All SEVEN locations of Pure Yoga and Pure Fitness is having open house on every Fri, Sat and Sun! Those who have not been to Pure before are invited to join, and you get to visit on any weekends days from 10 Aug – 30 Sep! I think you’ll be allowed to visit multiple times during this period, so this is a great chance to try Pure for FREE.
You can go to yoga as well as the gym. If you’re interested do email me at melissa@coconasana.com with your name and contact number and I’ll register you in!
Namaste 