Brewing Belonging: How Sea Point Starbucks Became a Cape Town Wellness Community Hub

Cape Town’s Sea Point Starbucks has spent the past year becoming something it was never designed to be: a community hall, a wellness studio, and a place where strangers save each other a seat. People still queue for flat whites and breakfast sandwiches, still open laptops at the window tables and take client calls in the corner. But once a month, the tables get pushed back, the mats go down, and the coffee shop transforms into something slower and more intentional.

Behind this unlikely shift is Hannah Cragg, a 23-year-old Cape Town-based wellness founder, model, and teacher who started Hannah Habits Community Movement after a trip to New York in early 2024. She arrived in the city alone, looking for connection, and found it through fitness communities — run clubs, studio classes, group movement sessions that held people together around something shared. When she returned to Cape Town, she brought that model home.

Why a Coffee Shop? The Cape Town Context

Cape Town has no shortage of Pilates studios — Sea Point alone has several — but what Hannah Habits does differently is remove the barriers that keep people from walking through the door. A boutique studio can feel intimidating if you’re new to movement. A membership fee can feel prohibitive. And showing up alone, not knowing anyone, can feel like too much. Hannah Habits is built specifically around that gap.

The Starbucks collaboration fits that ethos. It is a familiar, non-intimidating space. There is no membership card to swipe, no branded kit required, and no performance pressure the moment you walk in. You grab a coffee, find your mat, and begin. According to Hannah Cragg, founder of Hannah Habits Community Movement, the community thrives on this kind of intentional accessibility: “I am hyper-aware of always having a balance between free and ticketed events, which allows for accessibility for anyone who would like to be a part of the community.”

The broader South African wellness scene supports this momentum. Wellness trends going into 2026 show Pilates rising as one of the most sustainable fitness practices globally, with inclusive programming and community-led fitness gaining particular traction among younger South Africans. Hannah Habits sits at the intersection of all of those currents.

What Happens in the Class

Pilates Sculpt is a mat-based format — no reformer, no equipment-heavy setup required. Once a month, the Sea Point Starbucks floor is cleared, and the session begins. The class is open to all bodies and every level of fitness. Some people arrive alone. Some bring a friend. Nobody is ever made to feel too new to start.

The work itself does what Pilates is known for: building core strength breath by breath, a steadier centre, and a growing sense of ease in your own body. You leave the mat a little taller and calmer than you came. But the social layer is what keeps people returning. A year into the programme, the same faces keep showing up — and they stay after the session ends. The coffee that follows is part of the ritual. Conversations carry on. The strangers who arrived separately have become the kind of people who hold a spot on the mat for each other.

This is what Hannah Cragg describes as the core of the Hannah Habits philosophy: movement as a path to connection, and connection as the foundation for lasting healthy habits. “Through connection, an individual can typically feel grounded and safe,” she has said. “This safety in the body helps them respond to life from a rooted and regulated state, which is where healthy habits are developed.”

Hannah Cragg: The Person Behind the Community

Hannah Cragg is 23, neurodiverse — growing up with dyslexia and ADHD — and an AFDA acting and performance graduate. She is also a model represented by Purch Artistes and a teacher at One Flow Cape Town. In 2025, she was named a top finalist in the Women’s Health Cover Star Search. She has spoken openly about reframing movement as self-expression rather than punishment, a perspective that runs through everything Hannah Habits builds.

The Starbucks Saturdays class at Sea Point is one thread in a wider programme of community events — sunrise hikes, mat core sessions, themed classes — that Hannah Habits runs across Cape Town. What makes the Sea Point collaboration stand out is its longevity. A year on, the community it has built is self-sustaining in the way that matters most: people return not because they have to, but because they want to.

What to Know Before You Go

The Hannah Habits Pilates Sculpt class runs monthly at the Sea Point Starbucks in Cape Town. No prior Pilates experience is required. The format is body-inclusive, and all levels are welcome. For upcoming dates, the best place to check is Hannah Cragg’s Instagram (@hannah.cragg) or the Hannah Habits Community Movement page (@hannah__habits), where the monthly schedule is published at the start of each month.

Hannah Habits runs a mix of free and ticketed events — the Starbucks collaboration at Sea Point has historically been accessible to all. It is worth following the page for announcements about pricing, themed sessions, and any collaborations with Cape Town brands that form part of the experience.