Touchstone – Aisle 19
San Francisco, California
Specs: Aisle 19, Touchstone’s newest bouldering gym, is expected to open in early 2027 in San Francisco, California. In 1995, owners Debra and Mark Melvin opened their first climbing facility, Mission Cliffs, in the Mission District of the city. “The new gym captured the city’s imagination while setting a new standard for indoor climbing facilities,” stated Heather Bellgreen, Director of Marketing at Touchstone. San Francisco remains “an important part of our history and identity,” said Bellgreen, which is part of the reason behind expanding deeper into the area. “We see Aisle 19 as an opportunity to continue investing in the city, support the local climbing community, and make climbing more accessible to residents in a different part of San Francisco,” she shared.
The new gym is being constructed in a preexisting building, something that Touchstone has done for several of its facilities. “We always strive to use all we can when retrofitting buildings for our gyms,” Bellgreen said. “This is good practice from both a business and sustainability standpoint. But it’s also an attempt to incorporate what has come before into future use.” She noted that neighborhoods and communities shift, “but ideally, they do so while maintaining what has continued to work for those living there rather than throwing it all out and beginning anew.” That practice is a “first step” the team takes, said Bellgreen, to “try to be a part of the communities our gyms are in.”
According to Bellgreen, many parameters influence the team’s site selections, such as “location and accessibility, projected demand based in part on demographics, development, and economic forecasts, and the actual building itself.” Specifically, they ask if the building structure can support the gym’s needs. Upon completion, the 27,764-square-foot facility that houses Aisle 19 will have 10,645 square feet of climbing wall surface on walls reaching 16 feet, as well as a Kilter Board, Tension Board and Touchstone Board. “As with nearly all of our gyms, it will also have a full fitness and yoga class schedule, a full weight room, and lots of cardio equipment,” said Bellgreen. Additionally, Aisle 19 will have a pro shop and a dry sauna.
Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: Flashed
CRM Software: Redpoint HQ
Website: touchstoneclimbing.com/aisle-19/
Instagram: @Aisle19Climbing
In Their Words: “Do your homework. It’s a different market now than in the older days, with a lot more competition from not only other climbing gyms but also other forms of fitness…You may have an opportunity, with the right lease or the right purchase price of the perfect building, but that’s not enough. You need to understand if there is truly enough demand to sustain the business you’re trying to build. You might want to look into things like demographics, location and accessibility, competition, development in the surrounding areas, and economic forecasts.” – Heather Bellgreen, Director of Marketing at Touchstone
