DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE
UK: Sports Direct Fitness High street retailer Sports Direct has outlined plans for its new Sports Direct Fitness gym brand, with an initial offer of £5 a month membership (or £8 a month including group exercise). Embracing the ethos on which Sports
Direct founder Mike Ashley built his retail empire, the gym arm will sell memberships at this low rate with the aim of capturing market share and fostering rapid growth. Plans are for a 200-club estate. Mel Crossland, head of sales and
products for Sports Direct Fitness, told Health Club Management: “We’re expecting large amounts of additional spend from gym users, both because of the convenience of the on-site store for impulse buys and the fact that they’re the exact target market for Sports Direct products. “The stores will be busy in their own right, so the gyms will also benefi t from
increased footfall. We’re following the Sports Direct model of focusing on becoming the biggest.” Sports Direct Fitness made its initial
entry into the market by acquiring 23 former LA fi tness sites. Going forward, however, the primary model will be offering Sports Direct’s gym and retail outlets side-by-side; the fi rst such site opened in Aintree in mid-December, with openings in Keighley and St Helens hot on its heels. Four more new-builds – two in southern England, one in Wales and one in Scotland – were going through planning as this book went to print.
UK: LA fi tness Having emerged from its CVA late last year, LA fi tness has confi rmed that the remainder of its estate – approaching 50 clubs – will receive upgrades beginning in early 2015.
Capital will start to be released at the
end of Q1 2015, with all clubs due to receive investment – including completing the roll-out of LA fi tness’ new Primal functional training zones and programming. In addition, throughout the course of
2015, a further seven of the 13 central London clubs will be upgraded and rebranded to the LAX by LA fi tness brand – the operator’s premium offering. These will join the existing three LAX clubs – St Botolph’s in the City of London, South Kensington and London Wall. “We’re ‘premiumising’ our offering
in London,” confi rmed CEO Martin Long, speaking exclusively to Health Club Management. “At this stage I don’t plan for any more than 10 LAX clubs in total, all in prime London locations. However, even those clubs that remain under the LA fi tness brand will be brought up a level in terms of their offering. “In 2015 most of the investment will be
within the M25, but the entire estate will have received a facelift by January 2016.” There are also plans for growth going
forward. “I would like to be able to open new clubs, including experimenting with new formats,” said Long. “Our shareholders are currently the banks that have seen us through the CVA, and they’ve been fantastic supporters, but they aren’t the long-term holders of the business. We have a lot of resources available for stage one of our plans, but at some point during 2015 or 2016 we’ll be looking for new investors to help us accelerate our plans and grow.”
DLL unveiled a new model for its clubs in late 2014. and will grow its portfolio in 2015 38 Health Club Handbook 2015
UK: JD Gyms Retail megabrand JD Sports, which announced its entry into the gym market with the launch of its new JD Gyms brand
www.healthclubhandbook.com
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