Is owning a (hardcore) gym a viable business?

[the.gladiator1987]

the problem with starting a gym is you cant just sort of "try it out". you are either all in with the big enough lease space and equipment and facilities, or you arent going to have a chance. Its not like apricot seeds where you can start small on ebay and scale it up once you start making some sales.

yea true. Well then ud have to start small but not too small. Its possible imo but yea prob gonna be hard as fuck

 

[Arabian]

High startup costs
significant fixed monthly costs
Low profit margins
significant competition
large client turnover

it's an awful business venture unless you're a huge corporation that can put up hundreds of locations

CW is absolutely correct. Client retention is the key and with almost all gyms going to a NO CONTRACT membership, the competition will always be to vast.

 

[-SD-]

CW is absolutely correct. Client retention is the key and with almost all gyms going to a NO CONTRACT membership, the competition will always be to vast.

true. locking members into a long term contract are becoming a thing of the past. its too easy to switch gyms now so the competition is much increased.

 

[nimbus]

serious lifters who know what they're doing don't spend money. all the profit is from noobs who want training and want their gym to be like a resort

 

[mrplunkey]

Owner-operated gyms are like dry cleaners, Chinese restaurants and family hardware stores: They're decent livings if you want to personally work 60+ hours/week and consider your paycheck the profits of the business. Enough gym rats want to start gyms themselves that it's a very economically efficient industry.

The only way to make money in the industry is to build a brand (i.e. Gold's Gym) where people sign-up as part of their persona, not necessarily because they want to lift weight. Then they can sign massive numbers of people who will have dismal utilization rates which translate into decent money.

 

[Mr. dB]

serious lifters who know what they're doing don't spend money. all the profit is from noobs who want training and want their gym to be like a resort

Them, and the New Years Resolution people who buy a year contract and then stop showing up after a couple of weeks.

 

[samoth]

I go to one. In most areas, the answer will be no. You will have to pander to the popular and the lazy and that which goes against your vision.

 

[bakemeacookie]

So, I am, more or less, your average 'working professional'. Today I realized that all the local gyms really suck for the type of stuff that myself, a few of my friends, and like 80-100% of this forum like.

The last gym I went to only have one squat rack. Where are you supposed to do your curls?

Is starting a "real" gym (more like a weightroom) a viable/profitable business? One that is mostly free weights and squat racks? Have heavy chains, plyo boxes, etc. Maybe have a back lot with some strongman-like stuff (tire flip, etc).

Finding a location would be easy here. Buying a lot of freeweights . . . not sure about that. Shipping would be a beeotch. It seems like half the gyms around are fly-by-night places so maybe I could wait until one of them closed out.

It seems like a lot of start-up costs and a very narrow, limited client base. But, maybe there are actually a lot of serious lifters and strength athletes that would join because they couldn't care less about juice bars and 2 different cardio decks, and 4 different types of machines for every movement.

Talk to someone who actually runs a "profitable" gym. If you are serious.

If you can't find one - then that should tell you something.

c