TLDR: I found this location was not as nice as the Richmond location. The space is smaller. It is still nice, but just not as nice as the other Toronto location.
Stretching Area
The stretching area is right when you walk up the stairs, and many people are walking by this area. If you are a bit self conscious like me this made it hard to stretch. The stretching area in the Richmond location was in a side room that had more equipment and was more private and was a more pleasant experience
Class and Instructors
The class and instructor structure is similar across Barry's locations. I did find this Red Room to be smaller than the Richmond location. For those new to Barry's the class is split between floor work with weights and treadmill running. Not the best class for someone with bad knees or if you don't want to be sprinting vigorously. The instructors are all great and have high energy. It is a bit odd sometimes to share one instructor between the floor and treadmill as you may get confused what instructions are for you.
Atmosphere and Vibe
If you love high energy workouts with lots of really fit, attractive, high income earners this is the place for you. If you are more self conscious and don't like being pushed super hard or want loud music, this isn't the place for you. Barrys is all about branding so expect people with abs to take their tops off, expect lots of selfies in a red light in the red room. This is the place youll find the hottest instagram people you follow in your city, if that intimidates you I would skip it.
Amenities:
They have really premium amenities. Other than branding you are paying for the amenities at Barrys. There is a water bottle station, stretching space with massage foam rollers, showers, lockers that can be set with a number combination. They have branded hand towels for your class, branded full sized towels for the shower. The showers all have Oribe products which cost a tonne. There is nice dyson hair dryers, cotton Q tips, deodorant? hair products, plastic bags for your dirty clothes. If you come here, use the facilities since that is built into the cost and will enhance your experience.
Cost
No one will ever say Barrys is cheap. You are paying for the amenities, a high energy instructor, and a selfie with a fitness oriented friend. It is on the more expensive range of fitness classes, and there is almost never any discounts or deals. The way I see it is you are spending half the amount of the class on running on a treadmill, so if you usually do cardio on your own maybe a class like F45 that would utilize an instructor more for exercises that would require assistance would be more cost effective. Again, you pay for the "experience" and the branding.
Covid Safety
As of April 2022, the plastic dividers between treadmills are taken down. Apparently COVID is over. You swap with someone else between floor and treadmills multiple times a class, you walk around the space to get dumbbells. The entire class and instructors are not masked. The class is likely too high intensity to be masked. If you are worried about COVID I would not come to the class. There is also no vaccine passports required at this time. Spaces fill up very fast in advance, especially for popular instructors, so it may be hard to even book treadmill or floor spots beside friends you already see to minimize COVID risks read more