INTERNATIONAL
TSI announces Fitcorp Private Fitness Division
Following its acquisition of Boston-based Fitcorp earlier this year, New York-based Town Sports International (TSI) has announced the launch of Fitcorp Private Fitness Division. The new division will manage private
fitness centres for large and small companies. In addition to Boston, TSI plans to roll the model out to New York, Washington DC and Philadelphia, where it already operates clubs. Gary Klencheski, founder and former
president and CEO of Fitcorp, will be the president of the Fitcorp Private Fitness Division. Members of the division will also have access to TSI’s 159 clubs.
Webracing announces rollout of pilot study
Webracing is due to conduct clinical trials using interactive bikes with people suffering from Parkinson’s disease, following promising results among a small sample of patients. “Over last three years, we have been
testing interactive bikes with Parkinson’s patients with some promising results,” says Webracing’s Duncan Lawson. “It’s not a question that physical activity helps – it’s about looking at the role of the interactivity on stimulating neurotransmitters.” The four national health insurers in the
Netherlands have underwritten the costs of the pilot, which starts in October. “Initial results are so promising that they have also underwritten the next stage, to scale up to 2,500 patients in January 2014,” says Lawson. A German health insurer has also
committed to the project, adding a further €250,000 to the €4m trials.
Vivafit to enter UAE – first club in Abu Dhabi
Women-only fitness franchise Vivafit is set to open its first location in the UAE this October, in Abu Dhabi. The club will offer modules focused on
lifestyle change, weight loss management, nutrition, fitness and coaching. Otima Bhanot, area developer of Vivafit
in the UAE, says: “Vivafit is absolutely suited to this market and fills a big gap – an advanced fitness centre created for women that takes into consideration how they work, live and take care of their wellbeing.” Bhanot’s long-term aim is to open four centres in Abu Dhabi.
18 The brand targets middle to high income groups
A new independent health club, Biobak Eat and Burn, has opened in the Nigerian city of Abuja. Owned by Biobak Ventures, which already runs two successful restaurants in Nigeria, this new club marks the company’s first venture into fitness.
NEWS ‘Eat and Burn’ concept for Nigeria The brand new, 160sq m gym, which
opened on 4 June 2013, is located in the Citrus Mall shopping centre in Abuja. Also in the mall – which spans a total of 1,800sq m including car park and lawns – are a restaurant and spa, both also owned by Biobak Ventures, as well as a selection of shops. The gym is kitted out exclusively by Star
Trac, offering CV kit with embedded screens, the Inspiration Strength range, HumanSport cable-based stations and Spinner NXT bikes. The gym targets those earning middle to
high incomes, with a monthly membership of US$60 (10,000 Nigerian Naira). The monthly membership fee only covers gym membership – use of the spa and other facilities incurs additional costs. However, included in the membership fee are free dieting services for all members. Healthy meals can also be purchased. Although this is the first club for Biobak
Ventures, its owners already hope to expand the Biobak Eat and Burn concept into other cities in Nigeria.
FITLANE announces eighth location
French operator FITLANE, the market leader on the Cote d’Azur in the south of France, has announced the forthcoming opening of its eighth health club. The new club will be located in the town of
interview
Villeneuve-Loubet, with the opening currently scheduled for October 2013. Facilities at the 2,000sq m site will mirror
Fashionable fitness: FITLane clubs are designed to offer a buzzing, trendy place to be
those of other FITLANE clubs, with an extensive group exercise timetable alongside a large gym. For more information on FITLANE, please
see our interview with founder and CEO Hans Peter Franklin – HCM Oct 12, p32.
UXF rollout for Town Sports International
“I DO SEE FRANCE CATCHING UP WITH THE REST OF EUROPE – AND THAT MEANS A LOT OF OPPORTUNITY”
Town Sports International (TSI) in the US has announced plans to install UXF Training Zones in most of its clubs by the end of the year. Around one-third of its clubs – which
There’s also a 200sq m group exercise studio and an 80-bike Spinning studio – group exercise is very popular in France – as well as functional training and circuit areas. Significantly for the south of France, where parking is at a premium, the club also offers 600 free parking spaces. The club has already surpassed all
operate under the brand names New York Sports Clubs, Boston Sports Clubs, Philadelphia Sports Clubs and Washington Sports Clubs – already have these areas, which focus on functional training. The green-turfed zones offer a range of equipment including suspension trainers, battle ropes, sandbags, weighted sleds and tractor tyres. The goal is to offer a training option that delivers results in a short period of time, with
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
targets: with 7,000 members, the original goal of 4,000 has been smashed. “We’re a volume business,” admits Franklin. “Rightly or wrongly, I’ve always believed volume tends to work.” Franklin is already negotiating a second site in the centre of Nice, and would like to open a third. The latest development – a new-build on the outskirts of Antibes – is due to open in early 2013 and is currently slated as the sixth site. However, Franklin now plans to speed up expansion, with other options – Grasse, central Nice and further afield in Toulon – all in advance negotiation that may beat it to launch. Plans are to reach 10 to 12 clubs on the Côte d’Azur “as quickly as possible, then I believe the job is done in this area”. Private equity offers – which are already coming in – might then be considered to take the brand to other regions. “But I don’t want to do what I consider was a mistake for Fitness First, which was to put one club in each part of France, like little islands stuck out there. It’s important to control your geographic area.”
effectively – is he not worried about competition coming in and taking market share, perhaps even undercutting him? “Really, to understand the French fitness market, you have to go back to the beginning. It developed on a franchise basis – franchising is very popular out here. But while that’s all very well in a mature industry, in an immature industry like fitness it can go wrong very quickly. “The way it happened here, finance companies were brought in to finance all the memberships in advance. Club operators got all their money upfront, with members signing up for two years, but owners perhaps didn’t have the financial discipline to run the operation. The money would run out, clubs closed, members were up in arms and the banks put a big cross against fitness. “That happened a lot in France, and it’s one of the reasons why the percentage of the population who are gym members remains well below not only the US and UK, but also Germany, Spain, Italy. “But that’s all changing now, and that’s
why there’s such a market. I shouldn’t be saying this, because everyone will want to come and try it, but I do see France catching up with the rest of Europe. And that means a lot of opportunity. “But first operators have to get a
foothold. Anything’s possible, but if they come to the Côte d’Azur, they won’t be any cheaper than us – certainly not
instructors leading sessions in the zones such as UXF Ripped – a class that combines a core workout with functional strength training to burn calories, build muscle, and increase stamina and agility. “We’ve seen a huge shift towards functional
training in the fitness world, but it’s typically offered by specialised gyms, which don’t often feature a diversity of other equipment and fitness programmes,” TSI CEO Bob Giardina said in a statement. “The UXF Training Zones have become so popular with our members that we’re now planning to install 50 per cent more than we’d originally projected.”
profits must go to them. Real estate is expensive and incredibly hard to come by, as there’s no commercial real estate – you have to buy people’s businesses. “I suppose discount operators might be able to come in and knock off l5–10 a month, get a bit of market share – but make money? I doubt it. I think there’s a limit to how discount you can go here, and ultimately l49 isn’t a barrier when you have access to 10 classes a day, great equipment, air conditioning, nice showers, a good reception and generally a buzzing, trendy place to be. “You have to make it a fashionable place – get the film stars in there, the sports stars. If you have two restaurants on a boulevard and one’s packed and the other’s empty, which are you attracted to? The same goes for nightclubs. And I believe a fitness centre is no different – it has to be the place to be.”
August 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
Local specialist Yet Franklin is modest about FITLane’s success: “If I were to describe our model compared to what’s on offer in LA, Chicago, maybe London, we don’t offer anything that’s exceptional. The best way I can describe it is a fresh version of what 24 Hour Fitness, California Fitness and Fitness First have already been doing, which I think is a very good offering. “What I know is how to operate in the south of France – and, believe me,
Facilities will mirror those of other FITLANE clubs
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