*By Christian Smith* It's rare for the founder of a private company to clearly declare any intention to sell the business, but Anne Mahlum, founder of the quickly-growing fitness boutique brand Solidcore, said that's exactly what she plans to do. "We're looking to sell in the next four to five years once we build a really sustainable big model," Mahlum said Thursday in an interview on Cheddar. "There will be a point when it's better served in somebody else's portfolio." Solidcore is opening its first New York City flagship studio on Oct. 22, crowning a year of massive growth. The fitness company has swelled from a single Washington, D.C., location in 2013 to 34 studios along the East Coast and in the Midwest; it plans to open another 10 by the end of 2018. Solidcore's expansion plan doesn't resemble that of most boutique fitness companies. Mahlum, a native of Bismarck, N.D., has her sights on smaller markets in Middle America, which don't have the fitness options that major health hubs like New York or Los Angeles do. "We found this market that's out there, that people really want to work out in a different sort of way than a YMCA or some of the options they've had for years," Mahlum said. "It opened up our mind to really thinking about some Tier 3 and Tier 4 markets that are untapped by a lot of these boutique fitness concepts." Solidcore received funding from Peterson Partners in 2017 to aide in the company's market expansion. By the end of 2020, Mahlum hopes to have 100 studios nationwide. The workout at the core of the brand's boom? Solidcore describes it as a 50-minute intensified and refined hybrid of Pilates and bootcamp-style fitness. Single classes at the new flagship location in New York will cost $40 once the studio opens its doors. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/solidcore-fitness-studio-launching-first-nyc-flagship).
