Building a membership model in retail is a balancing act. 

You want steady revenue, but not at the cost of accessibility. You need structure, but also flexibility. Above all, you want your customers to feel like they’re part of something.

That’s exactly what Nickie Toussaint and Karen Lewis, co-owners of Collective Dance Fitness in Chicago, have created. Their boutique studio offers high-energy dance-based fitness classes from cardio to ballet-inspired strength training.

Their membership model works not because it’s perfect on paper, but because it reflects the needs of their community. 

If you’re looking to create or improve your own membership business model, Collective Dance Fitness offers a clear, inspiring blueprint for how to do it right.

1. Offer Flexible Pricing That Fits Real Life

At Collective Dance Fitness, memberships aren’t designed to trap people into attendance but to meet people where they are. Nickie and Karen offer a variety of pricing options that allow members to engage on their terms, such as:

• Single class drop-ins for those who want to test it out or pop in occasionally.
• 5- 20-class packs for those with changing schedules or short-term visits.
• Unlimited monthly memberships for consistent attendees who want full access.

This flexibility offers convenience and is a core part of their business model. It supports customers who might just want to try it out, just as easily as it supports members who attend four times a week. 

It’s this tiered structure that makes the studio accessible for parents, professionals, and new members without pressure or commitment overload.

When you build in flexible access points, you remove the barriers that prevent people from attending. The more ways you allow them to easily say “yes,” the more often they will.

2. Design for More Than Just Local Loyalty

Loyalty isn’t limited to geography at Collective Dance Fitness. Some of their most committed members don’t even live in Chicago full-time. Many of their clients regularly travel for work or have relocated to other states, but still plan their trips around attending class. Others, who found the studio during the pandemic, continue to dance with them virtually from afar.

This kind of long-distance engagement only works because the studio’s membership model is intentionally designed to support it. Their short-term class packs make it easy for someone visiting for a weekend to participate without pressure. Meanwhile, their ongoing virtual offerings allow former locals and distant fans to stay connected to the community and the workouts they love.

When your membership model supports life in motion, your customers will take you with them, whether they’re three blocks away or three states over.

3. Make Virtual Fitness Classes Feel Valuable

When the world went virtual, many businesses saw it as a temporary fix. Collective Dance Fitness took a different approach. Rather than treat online classes as a placeholder during the pandemic, Nickie and Karen integrated them into their long-term business strategy. Those classes are still going strong today.

All of their live classes are streamed directly from the studio, giving members the option to join from anywhere: their living room, a hotel gym, or even during a lunch break. With this in mind, instructors make a point to stay within frame, adjust their movements to be visible, and engage with their virtual students mid-class by checking in and offering encouragement. 

This intentional effort bridges the gap between in-person energy and remote accessibility. It turns a screen into a source of connection so that virtual members feel just as much a part of the Collective community as those in the studio.

A hybrid membership only works when the virtual side isn’t an afterthought. Make it personal, engaging, and connected, and watch your reach grow.

4. Make Your Space Feel Like It Belongs to Members

Membership is about what people feel when they walk through your doors. At Collective Dance Fitness, the Wicker Park studio is a vibrant, familiar space that reflects the spirit of the community they’ve built.

Housed in a vintage building with tall ceilings, original details, and generous natural light, the studio exudes authenticity and warmth. That’s by design. Karen and Nickie chose the space for its aesthetic appeal and because it felt like home to them and their longtime members. 

Karen said, “We built the business in Wicker Park because this is pretty close to where we personally are based, and this is where the community is definitely based. When we were discussing opening, we wanted to not just be in Wicker Park, but to be in this studio, which had been our home base for years…. We discussed that we can’t even move across the street. This is our home.” 

Their community shares that sentiment. When they celebrated their anniversary, members showed up for class with their families. Spouses, partners, and children came just to see the place that had become such an essential part of their loved ones’ lives. That level of emotional investment comes from consistency, comfort, and the way the space reflects the values of the people inside it.

Your physical space is part of your membership promise. When it feels personal, familiar, and intentionally welcoming, it becomes a second home for your customers.

5. Make Membership Feel Like a Gathering

A membership should never feel exclusive in a limiting sense. It should feel inviting. At Collective Dance Fitness, the studio has evolved into more than a place to work out. It’s a place where friendships form, milestones are celebrated, and life happens between workouts.

Nickie and Karen intentionally cultivate a warm, judgment-free environment where people show up early to chat in the lobby and stay late to catch up. Members regularly share parenting tips, hand down baby gear, and offer each other rides. What starts as a dance class often turns into an invitation to join a welcoming community.

The studio has hosted baby showers, birthday parties, bachelorette celebrations, and even post-class wine nights. These types of in-store retail events are a part of a formal loyalty program, creating natural extensions of the inclusive culture Collective Dance Fitness has built. 

Strong communities make strong businesses. When your membership model is built around connection, members stay because they feel like they belong.

6. Let Your Brand Reflect What Membership Means

When Nickie and Karen chose the name “Collective,” they sought to encapsulate and define a specific mindset. From day one, Collective Dance Fitness was designed to bring people together, no matter their age, fitness level, background, or dance experience. The name reflects an open, inclusive spirit that’s evident in every part of the business.

That philosophy is lived out daily. Some members attend class multiple times a week, while others come once or twice a month. Both are equally welcomed, recognized, and celebrated. There’s no hierarchy here. Just a shared understanding that showing up matters, in whatever way someone can.

That approach extends beyond the studio walls. The branding is light, expressive, and approachable, with class names like “Ballet Flex” and “Dance Cardio” that are fun and inviting. Their merchandise is promotional while also reflecting the movement and confidence they promote in class. 

Membership should be framed as an emotional agreement. When your branding reflects your community’s values, you’ll build trust and loyalty that goes deeper than a sign-up form.

7. Make the Value Feel Bigger Than the Price

At Collective Dance Fitness, pricing isn’t the lead pitch, and it doesn’t have to be. While their membership options are intentionally accessible, what truly drives retention is the value people feel once they walk through the door.

That value is built through joy, trust, and a consistent emotional payoff. Nickie and Karen have created an experience where members walk out feeling better than when they came in. 

Here are a few of the practical ways they create value that go far beyond the cost of entry:

• They encourage movement that feels good. Collective Dance Fitness’s classes are built around fun, freedom, and expression. You don’t need the “right body” or dance background to belong there.
• They celebrate every kind of progress. Instructors take time to acknowledge those who are making it through their first class or mastering a complex combination
• They invite individuality into the room. Members don’t have to dress a certain way, move a certain way, or be on the same level. Everyone brings their own style, and this is what makes the vibe fun.
• They make the studio feel like a reset button. After a long workday, a stressful week, or a parenting marathon, the studio becomes a place to unwind, reconnect, and leave feeling lighter, both mentally and physically.

The best membership models are measured by how often someone walks out the door saying, “This was exactly what I needed today.”

8. Make It Easy for Members to Come Back Whenever They’re Ready

At Collective Dance Fitness, the door doesn’t close if you take time away. You can return when you are ready, no questions asked. Nickie and Karen have built a membership model designed for real life, so people can pause their routine for travel, work, caregiving, or burnout. 

Members can step away and rejoin without the friction of reactivation fees, expiration confusion, or guilt over taking time off. There’s no emphasis on how long someone’s been gone or what they’ve missed. The focus is on encouragement and being happy that they’re back. As a result, coming back feels like picking up right where you left off.

Life is unpredictable, so a strong membership model should provide people with the space to leave and the comfort to return without making them feel like they have failed in between.

Conclusion

Membership models aren’t just for gyms or streaming platforms. When done thoughtfully, they can strengthen nearly any type of retail business, especially those that are founded on community, consistency, and connection.

Collective Dance Fitness has developed a membership model that respects individuals’ schedules, life stages, and humanity. It works because it’s flexible, joyful, and personal.

If you’re designing or refining your membership model, start with what matters: people. When you prioritize their needs, growth, and loyalty, your business grows with them.

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