Pumping franchises
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Seeing the area as ripe for potential bulking up, Gold”™s Gym is looking to open 12 new locations in Fairfield and Westchester (N.Y.) counties within the next few years.
The Dallas-based company is on the lookout for potential franchisees to run the new gyms, as part of an overall strategy to add 200 more locations nationally by 2010 through franchise development.
“Periodically, we take a look at the top 150 markets in the U.S.,” said Keith Albright, senior vice president for franchising for Gold”™s Gym. “We”™ll see what the markets will hold, and identify likely expansion areas.”
Albright said Gold”™s was enticed by Fairfield and Westchester counties in part because of the high median income and the presence of a demographic he called “aging baby boomers” in the area. There are currently no Gold”™s in Fairfield and Westchester counties.
“Baby boomers are the fastest-growing segment of the fitness market,” he said.
Albright said the company has not yet identified any potential franchisees. Typically, Gold”™s finds them through direct mailing and e-mailing, referrals, and by speaking with chambers of commerce and other local organizations.
He said Gold”™s generally looks for franchisees with a minimum liquidity of $300,000, and a net worth of $800,000. It takes roughly $2 million to open a typical gym.
“This is not an impulse buy,” he said. “It”™s important to find someone who has roots in the community. This is really a local business.”
Generally, it takes about 18 months to open a gym from the time a franchise agreement is signed, he said.
Albright said January is one of the company”™s “hottest times” for signing people up to franchise agreements, and he said Gold”™s hopes to identify local franchisees during the fall and winter.
The gym was started in 1965 by Joe Gold, in Venice Beach, Calif., in an area that would later become known as “muscle beach.”
The gym gained international notoriety in the landmark 1977 bodybuilding documentary “Pumping Iron,” which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferigno working out at Gold”™s.
For many years, and even up to today, Gold”™s has had a reputation of being more of a serious bodybuilder”™s gym than a jazzercise venue.
While the gym still does cater to its bodybuilding clientele, Albright said is has all the modern gym amenities and a welcoming environment.
“Certainly, we”™ll always be a place for serious bodybuilders and we won”™t run away from that reputation,” he said. “But our gyms have a full spectrum of fitness folks as members. We offer things like yoga, Pilates, and most of our gyms have a separate workout area set aside for women.”
According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, a health club trade organization, 15 percent of the nation”™s population belongs to health clubs.
“There”™s still 85 percent out there,” Albright said.
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