Opening a gym? Anyone? Or other franchise? (1 Viewer)

[eoMMan]

Has anyone opened a gym (franchised)  or some other franchise?

How did it go?

I have friend considering opening a gym. He's tired of corporate life and his job is sort of being phased out.

@mr roboto

@Mr. Roboto

 

[mr roboto]

Well I sell fitness franchises. I'm also opening one of my own in 8 weeks. 

AMA! (almost anything - there are some things I can't speak to). 

 

[Dan Lambskin]

My father in law opened one years ago.  He went back to being an electrician.  I don't recall all the details on why it went South though 

 

[IC FBGCav]

Step 1:  Find a bunch of meatheads on steroids

 

[IC FBGCav]

Step 2:   Purchase 10,000 empty gallon jugs

 

[Cjw_55106]

Step 1:  Find a bunch of meatheads on steroids

Step 2:   Purchase 10,000 empty gallon jugs

How about you just combine the two? Win/win

Find a bunch of hot moms interested in yoga. The jugs will take care of themselves. 

 

[Fishboy]

Had someone here give up their day job to open a gym a few years ago. 

Not even 2 years later, they closed the gym and are back working here again. 

It's a competitive industry and with all the $10/month memberships, you just compete on price and get a decent push around the new year, only to have membership continue to decrease over the year.  Gone are the days of the long term, annual or multi year memberships. 

 

[Grace Under Pressure]

Spin & Yoga Studio imo if you're chasing the fitness dollar. Just opening a "gym" isn't specialized enough with today's options available. It seems like it would a cost/convenience/spa feeling mix of elements. Consider targeting high end, convenient, relatively price competitive as the mix. Do a lot of market research. Zip codes, demographic trends, market competition, pricing, etc. GL.

 

[mr roboto]

Spin & Yoga Studio imo if you're chasing the fitness dollar. Just opening a "gym" isn't specialized enough with today's options available. It seems like it would a cost/convenience/spa feeling mix of elements. Consider targeting high end, convenient, relatively price competitive as the mix. Do a lot of market research. Zip codes, demographic trends, market competition, pricing, etc. GL.

Yep. Studio fitness businesses are doing very well. Medium-to-high priced memberships, high level of service and community. Usually one particular style of workout (yoga, spin, interval, strength etc). 

Fully half of ALL fitness memberships in the US are to these boutique type studios. The traditional gyms are losing market share big time. 

 

[Hilts]

Interesting Planet Money piece on gyms: My link

 

[eoMMan]

Yep. Studio fitness businesses are doing very well. Medium-to-high priced memberships, high level of service and community. Usually one particular style of workout (yoga, spin, interval, strength etc). 

Fully half of ALL fitness memberships in the US are to these boutique type studios. The traditional gyms are losing market share big time. 

Yeah, I'm not sure of the exact one he's looking at but he mentioned "boutique". Maybe like a cross fit or a boot camp or something. He's out in California. 

 

[mr roboto]

Interesting Planet Money piece on gyms: My link

 Yep. Many large gyms  would go out of business if all of their members worked out once or twice a week.  They literally don't have capacity to handle regular use by even a majority of the members. 

 10 or $20 per month is such a small recurring charge on your credit card that you won't cancel your membership because to cancel your membership means admitting to yourself that you will never get in shape.  Once you cancel your membership it's like giving up on yourself. 

 Contrast that to studio fitness businesses which often have average monthly client paymemts between $100-$250.  Those businesses encourage clients to attend classes, send reminders if they've been gone more than a week, provide a high-level of personal accountability with coaches or instructors there to motivate and often times these studios  provide some sort of progress or fitness tracking as part of their membership. 

 In our locations our average client attends 1.5 times per week.  Once somebody's average attendance drops below a one time per week we consider them at risk of dropping.   Not that we kick them out but that when somebody does something less than one time per week they are usually on their way to giving that activity up. 

 15% of the population work out regularly because it is a personal passion or they are interested in fitness as a hobby. The rest of us can use some guidance and personal motivation. 

 

[EYLive]

Open next to a tanning salon and laundromat.

 

[James Daulton]

Whatever you do, don't let @Chaka know.  He thinks working out is bad for you.

 

[Thorpe]

Where I live is oversaturated with gyms.  I doubt most of them make money, but they probably all sell a lot of memberships that never get used.