EVERETT – Initially slowed by COVID, the Arlington-based fitness boutique, Athleisure Collective, is forging ahead with an expansion plan at Everett’s Waterfront Place two years after opening it’s first brick and mortar location in north Snohomish County.
Athleisure Collective CEO, Briana Bowers, was creating the vision for her unique blend of fitness and wellness in 2017 and building plans for the company while she worked after graduating from the University of Washington. “I was working at a media technology company. Working with the president of ABC, the COO of Fox, the CEO of CBS and Paramount, and all these big media leaders and had a really great role at a technology company,” Bowers tells the EverettPost.com.
Her career, combined with her fitness and health interests, launched her on the path to Athleisure Collective when she was inspired by the concept, “stop being who you think you need to be and become who you’re meant to be,” she recalls. “And that was really kind of the ‘a ha’ moment when I was like, I love all this incredible work we’ve done. I can be the CEO of my own company,” Bowers asserts.
Even at UW, after growing up in Everett and graduating high school when her family lived in Stanwood, Bowers says, “I always had the idea that I would open up a business.”
The gateway to Athleisure Collective was unlocked for Bowers during those years in the media tech world. Her work experience, she conveys, would involve speaking on stage to 300 media executives while her personal goals involved running a marathon. Her own food allergies have been another factor in the creation of Athleisure Collective. Those seemingly disparate connections, Bowers, says “really led me to creating Athleisure Collective. It was clear as day. This is what I need to be doing.”
“We’re basically three businesses under one roof,” as Bowers describes her trifecta of fitness, wellness and retail. “There are no companies that are offering what we’re offering under one roof. Most boutique studios offer one, maybe three formats. And we offer every format,” of fitness instruction from mindful movement classes for all abilities, to reformer Pilates, strength, cycle, yoga, mat Pilates, dance sculpt, barre, to high-intensity training (HIIT), Build & Bond for parents and kids, step, fusion classes, and more. One on one coaching is also available.
Athleisure Collective offers spa-like services involving infrared sauna and recovery for wellness, a “cafe that has fun drinks, curated concoctions, local or organic products. And then we also are that boutique retail shop that’s offering all the leggings and sports bras and joggers,” for sportswear needs, Bowers explains.
The result, the CEO, founder and coach says, is “a boutique wellness experience that offers everything that you need to be your healthiest, happiest, best self from the inside out.”
It’s the vision Bowers was thinking about dating back to 2017. In 2020, she and her partner TJ Scrupps, were ready to launch their vision when COVID changed the world.
A plan to build on a dirt lot after signing a lease in 2019 skidded to a stop with COVID, “the building part of the building wasn’t happening in 2020” Bowers laments, “then we decided to launch to the world anyways, but just online,” in October 2020. As they world coped with COVID in early 2021, “is when we started to do more workout sessions, things like that at our retreat location,” Bowers says, “and then, in 2024, is when we opened up our Arlington brick and mortar, April 2024.”
After adjusting to COVID, Bowers tells the EverettPost.com that a location for Athleisure Collective in Everett was an early thought, but only after launching in Arlington first. “Since summer 2022, we’ve been talking about it,” she says of the newly signed 10-year lease at Waterfront Village, “it just was the right opportunity at the right time and the right amount of space that we needed.”
The Everett location in the 1700 block of West Marine View Drive is approximately 4,000-square-feet of interior space and surrounding patio in Marina Village, situated along the South Marina promenade between Anthony’s Homeport and Woodfire for three group fitness studios, a health focused café and retail offerings. The interior space needs some customization that Bowers says requires permits to complete, “so the goal is in early 2027, and we’ll just keep working towards that goal and hope to be open really soon.” Athleisure Collective employs 25 people in full and part-time roles.
“It’s just so beautiful to now be able to open our second location in Everett, which is also, a hometown to us,” Bowers shares. She grew up in Everett before her family moved to Stanwood where she attended middle school and finished high school.”
Bowers professes, Everett is still a sentimental home for her and Scrupps, now even more so with the success of Athleisure Collective. “It is a destination spot that all of our current members already go to, and so I’m excited to bring it to them and their life that they have another place down at the Everett waterfront that they can go to that’s familiar, that’s family, that feels good,” Bowers shares.
“I know that there’s a lot of growth happening there at the Everett waterfront,” Bowers beams. “I believe that they have a lot of opportunity to create something really magical, special, community driven. And so, it just makes sense on all areas to open at the Everett waterfront.”
Port of Everett CEO and Executive Director, Lisa Lefeber, said about the lease deal, “We’ve been wanting something athletic and fitness for a very long time, and so this is the best of both worlds, and we’ve been trying to get a retail focus back into the South Marina. We’re very excited to have you join us,” regarding Athleisure Collective.
Spurring the expansion for Bowers, she believes “People want to move their body. People want to feel good.” If people have struggled with health and fitness, Bowers thinks Athleisure Collective can be a solution for them. “They just haven’t found an environment that allows for them to do that until they have found Athleisure Collective. At Athleisure Collective, they are finding that they can move their body, and they can make this a lifestyle they can come every day or a couple times a week and feel good about it. And that they are accomplishing their goals, they’re feeling good every day. And that truly is the difference here at Athleisure Collective.”
As Bowers was realizing her vision, dating back to 2017, she says, “Our mission’s always been ‘add positivity to the world’. We only accept positivity here, and that is a type of environment that people experience right from the moment that they walk in, until the moment they leave. And really, that is what is so special about Athleisure Collective and why people love it. So, we’re really excited about that.”
Though no opening date has been set yet for Athleisure Collective’s second location, look for the positivity to expand in Everett in early 2027. You can
follow Athleisure Collective on social media @athleisurecollective.
For branding purposes, ATHLEISURE COLLECTIVE capitalizes its name on proprietary materials and signage.