What type of Health Club are you Opening?

What type of Health Club are you considering Opening?

Are you considering opening up a health club? If so, what kind of facility are you planning?  Once you understand your health club business model you will be able to budget and plan accordingly.  Building a health club can be very expensive and if you don’t chose the right model you could be asking for a financial pitfall.  So, for starters you should decide if you are going to be one of the following:

• A 24 Hour Access Health Club-A 24 hour health club are typically health clubs that have a swipe key or punch code access to get you in the door.  Typically small (2,500 sq. ft. to 4,000 sq.ft.), have approximately 10-15 pieces of cardio equipment, a line of selectorized strength equipment and a small free weight area.  The locker rooms are often small and many do not have shower facilities.  Very few 24 hour facilities offer much if any group exercise classes.  If they do the selection of classes and hours will be very limited.  Most 24 Hour Access Health Clubs Range from $24.95 to $39.95 per month. A couple of examples of 24 Hour Access Health Clubs that are franchised models would be Snap Fitness, Anytime Fitness and Fitness Advantage.

• A Value Health Club-A value health club is described as a club typically six to ten thousand square feet that offers plenty of cardio and strength equipment, have limited locker and shower facilities and most do not have group exercise classes.  Most Value Health Clubs range in price from $9.99 to $26.99 per month.  The hours for the clubs may vary but most in metropolitan areas are from around 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday and on the weekends will close around 6 p.m.   The staff is trained to sell memberships and keep the facility clean.  Most Value Clubs offer personal training but the resources there are usually limited.  A couple of examples of Value Health Clubs would be Cardinal Fitness, Charter Fitness, Planet Fitness and Fitness 19.

• A Full Service Health Club-A full service health club is typically a very large facility that offers many amenities.  Some of the amenities that may be offered are swimming pools, hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, full service salons, restaurants and water parks.  A full service health club can be up to 100,000 square feet and usually costs millions to build.  Typically these clubs would be built in areas with a very high density population with supporting demographics.  The staff is very well trained in service, health club management, personal training and showing the user a very positive overall experience.  Most full service health clubs range in price from $49.99 up to a couple of hundred dollars a month.   

As you can see by the health club models above there is plenty to think about while building your business in the health club industry.  Depending on the type of club you decide to build will tell you many things that will ultimately impact your success in this field.  For example; if you live in a town with 4,500 people with another 4,500 people in a 7 mile radius, most likely you will not be looking to build a full service health club.  The demographics would not support this and financially this would not be able to self support itself.  You would most likely look  into  building a 24 hour access health club where you can build the facility for much less and look at alternative ways of cutting costs to ensure success in your business.

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