Why is that building painted pink? See inside SLO’s new ‘girliepop’ fitness studio
A “girliepop” fitness studio is moving to a new spot in San Luis Obispo — and if its future home off South Street was somewhat nondescript before, now it’s hard to miss.
That’s because it’s hot pink.
“The honest answer is we painted it pink because it’s c--t,” Kismet Fitness owner Britt Pomfret joked to The Tribune during an interview ahead of the studio’s planned opening next month.
Pomfret, who opened Kismet Fitness in 2023, did also have a more traditional answer for why the building at 198 South St. — once an unmemorable beige — was due for a glow-up.
“We want to be a beacon for the queer community and for the female contingent to know that this is a safe space within the community to come move without judgment,” she said.
Pomfret is no stranger to the fitness scene — nor to its sometimes toxic tendencies.
She started her career working at Equilibrium Fitness in San Luis Obispo roughly 20 years ago, eventually becoming co-owner with her husband, David Pomfret. The all-women’s gym closed in 2023.
“I learned a lot teaching and managing Equilibrium,” she said. “What bits of the fitness industry were good — promoted mental and physical health — and what bits were actually so toxic and diet culture.”
Now with Kismet, she’s been working to change a lot of that.
“When Equilibrium closed, I wasn’t sure about what the future ... held for me,” Pomfret said. “But Kismet is like — there’s no third spaces in our lives anymore, and to be able to offer a third space in the community is gorgeous.”
What is Kismet Fitness?
So what exactly is Kismet Fitness?
According to its website, the studio is “a one-of-a-kind program for women and nonbinary folks in SLO,” that offers a rotating schedule of classes “utilizing multiple disciplines to keep your body responding and our collective ADHD happy.”
“The whole vibe is like a party that you wouldn’t feel intimidated to attend,” Pomfret said of the studio’s professional club lighting and music. “Fitness shouldn’t have to be so serious to be effective.”
For the third week of January, classes included a 45-minute cardio and mobility class on Monday, lower body and core on Tuesday, cardio and upper body on Thursday, total body barbells on Friday and Pilates sculpt on Saturday.
Those classes will switch quarterly as well so there is almost always something new happening at Kismet, Pomfret said.
“I hate monotony,” she said. “So if I know exactly what to expect, then I’ll just stop — that feels really unfun to me. So I wanted to offer something that felt like it was a little bit different each time, so that you could still come and have a little novelty and not know what to expect.”
And it’s not restricted by age. According to Pomfret, the studio currently has customers who range from 15 to their early 70s.
“It kind of offers space for every type of person, which is incredible,” she said.
Why open fitness studio on South Street?
Though it has built a tight-knit community of regular attendees, the business hasn’t been without its ups and downs.
Currently housed at a pop-up spot in an office complex at 4111 Broad St., it actually got its start in the San Luis Obispo Public Market, sharing a space with ballroom dance studio Nexus.
That arrangement didn’t work in the long-term, however, Pomfret said, and shortly after opening the business was “immediately homeless.”
“But within even that month it just grew so much, and it was already such an incredible community that I felt like, “OK, we really have to fight for this,’” she said.
Though she has been hosting classes out of the Broad Street popup in recent months, Pomfret said that space also isn’t ideal for a long-term fitness studio.
“They’ve been so nice and welcoming,” she said. “But everyone that works in that business park is clearly doing business, so it’s such a wild little thing that there’s just a conference room with these club lights blasting out and like randomly at 4:30 p.m. Megan Thee Stallion is on.”
Thanks to some community connections, however, Pomfret recently lucked into a hard-to-turn-down opportunity: After a fire damaged the South Street building and its former tenant CCH Pools moved out, the property owner said whoever moved in next would have near-complete control over how the building was renovated.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god,’” Pomfret said. “Divine timing.”
When will Kismet Fitness open new SLO spot?
Moving into a permanent home opens up some new opportunities for Pomfret and Kismet.
As a prenatal and postpartum kinesiologist and former doula, Pomfret said she hopes to expand the studio’s programming for pregnant people and those with babies.
She also hoped to be able to open up the space to other local women and nonbinary practitioners to be able to rent it out for hourly use.
“So if you’re a yoga instructor and you want to rent the studio on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, then that would be available at something that isn’t so cost-prohibitive as monthly rent,” she said. “That way people can run their own business and charge what they want and advertise what they want, but it’s still from a safe space.”
Renovations were still underway as of mid-January, Pomfret said, but if all goes as planned, the studio should be up and running in early February with a hard launch on Valentine’s Day, she said.
“We’re just so excited,” Pomfret said. “It’s a literal dream come true.”
For more information
For more information on Kismet Fitness, visit its website at kismetfitnessslo.com or its Instagram @kismetfitness.
This story was originally published January 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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