OT. Anytime Fitness

[GettingBackIn]

Anyone own an anytime fitness or similar franchise? I'm considering opening one (maybe two). I'm trying to figure out what I can expect to make annually. The language in their information is very vague, but there are a lot of fees you have to pay out to them.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ashop]

I'm not trying to shoot your dreams down by any means but just know going into it the gym business is VERY tough,,,even if your a top level franchise it costs a lot of money to keep running and maintain.

 

[jm425]

I was looking into opening up a gym with close friend of mine years ago until I saw all the overhead expenses in order to just keep it up running. Don't expect to make much of anything if anything at all profit/revenue wise the first year. Good luck.

 

[RCK]

I know nothing about running a gym, but from working in a few it always made me wonder how much they were making based off of how long it took them to turn on the heat in the summer and how they DO NOT pay for broken Dumbbells and rarely ever replace equipment. I've paid for at least 4 Dumbbells out of my own pocket working as a trainer because they refuse to. Just a thought I guess. That might not have anything to do with your question but I thought I would share.

 

[Allday]

Anyone own an anytime fitness or similar franchise? I'm considering opening one (maybe two). I'm trying to figure out what I can expect to make annually. The language in their information is very vague, but there are a lot of fees you have to pay out to them.

Thanks in advance.

First off, don't open a gym. Too much money going into it and tons of competition. I wouldn't even consider it unless I had 500k to put into it and a very strong following on social media and in the local fitness community (because there's always big box competition).

Secondly, never open an anytime fitness. A close family friend of mine opened two around the area where I grew up. One in my hometown, another in a town 12 miles away. Her dad had some successful gyms in California so she got in the business with a short lifetime of knowledge on how to run a gym and some financial help from her dad.

The clauses that anytime fitness puts in their franchise agreement is ridiculous. The initial term is for 6 years which is normal enough. Her gym in my hometown was breaking even and the one in the other town was hemorrhaging money (very little gym competition in these places too, one la fitness and one golds in the one losing money, and no big name gyms in the other.. just curves and a couple fitness studios).

When her six years were up she wanted to end the agreement and open the gyms under a different name and make it a privately owned gym. Not only would she not be able to open a gym in that location. They said they would sue her if she ever opened a gym within 30 miles of either location because the anytime fitness brand built her notoriety as a gym owner.

So she ended up closing the one losing money and slowly making better profits with the other but regrets ever franchising with them.

I know anytime fitness looks enticing because it is the cheapest gym to franchise but they make up for it big time.

 

[Nbencze]

good luck brother

 

[Allday]

Anyone own an anytime fitness or similar franchise? I'm considering opening one (maybe two). I'm trying to figure out what I can expect to make annually. The language in their information is very vague, but there are a lot of fees you have to pay out to them.

Thanks in advance.

oh she also mentioned the fees. She said it was always on the top end of the ranges they mention and add in lots of additional "if this, then that" type of charges.

 

[gulfcoast]

Been around the game for decades now...
The ONLY way I'd ever even consider opening a gym is one in a large city, no affiliation whatsoever, hire some of the best and most popular local trainers and shoot for a select clientele.

Example - Dolvett Quince from the Biggest Loser had a boutique gym in Atlanta in Buckhead serving a very select clientele. I know 3 of the trainers that use to work for him there. There were NO members - it was all personal training with individual clients. Standard fee was $2,000 for 15 sessions, paid upfront in full with no refunds if you wanted to cancel.

Another guy I know in a big city caters to high school and college athletes who have the $ and talent to possibly make it to the pros. They do stuff like NFL Combine Prep camps that have maybe 50 guys paying something like $5,000 for 2 weeks.

You need some kind of niche to succeed in the gym business. Opening up some run of the mill franchise box gym in a local storefront is nothing but a losing proposition for most people.

 

[GettingBackIn]

Thanks for all of the input. I'm not really looking for anything that's going to make me rich. This will just be something to keep me busy in retirement. I thought about a supplement shop but that seems like more headache than a gym.

 

[Growman]

Every gym or gym company i have heard of recently is struggling to stay in business. I know Golds was in big trouble, and in the the Northeast the New York Sports Clubs and the others Boston, Philly and DC Sports Clubs were all in trouble... Makes me think its a hard gig.

I hate to say it but gyms like planet fitness have the right model for making money. They target people that dont actually work out, and they make it cheap enough that there is no reason to cancel. So you have lots of members who dont show up but keep paying.

Seems like a better deal out west, when I lived out there the gyms were great and about $30 a month. Las Vegas Athletic Clubs and 24 hour fitness out there were great, well maintained and cheap....

 

[Allday]

Every gym or gym company i have heard of recently is struggling to stay in business. I know Golds was in big trouble, and in the the Northeast the New York Sports Clubs and the others Boston, Philly and DC Sports Clubs were all in trouble... Makes me think its a hard gig.

I hate to say it but gyms like planet fitness have the right model for making money. They target people that dont actually work out, and they make it cheap enough that there is no reason to cancel. So you have lots of members who dont show up but keep paying.

Seems like a better deal out west, when I lived out there the gyms were great and about $30 a month. Las Vegas Athletic Clubs and 24 hour fitness out there were great, well maintained and cheap....

That or open a crossfit gym. Then you can reasonable charge each member $150-250 a month and can get by with a 2000 sq ft facility with some rowers, a few cages, and bumper plates.

 

[GottaGain]

Thanks for all of the input. I'm not really looking for anything that's going to make me rich. This will just be something to keep me busy in retirement. I thought about a supplement shop but that seems like more headache than a gym.

If you want to keep busy in retirement take up golf.

 

[TheAnabolicFreak]

Id take the same money and use it to buy a Subway or Firehouse subs. At least you'll make money. Meatheads arent a good source of income. You want that fat housewife to prepay for a year and never use the gym. Thats who places like 24 hour fitness and LA fitness want. Not the guys who will come in with chalk and stones and actually use the place and be there for hours day in and day out.

 

[grizzly978]

The gym business is so competitive, I just made a thread a few weeks ago about how pushy/annoying the membership people at them are...back to the topic, that's a tough call because Anytime is a run of the mill gym, and doesn't have a great selection(at least the one near me), and then you have to think about the cutthroat competition. The gym business is one of the most competitive, there are so many gyms, and even if you don't have tons of other gyms near your gym, you have to think about the issue of location(there is only a certain geographic area for members). You'd want a gym in a highly populated area that has many houses/apartments/businesses within a few mile radius. If people live a little bit far, they wont join. So if you have 4 gyms in a 5 mile radius, it turns into a dogfight for new members, and say you get 1 out of the 4 new joiners a day, that's gonna make it hard to gain any profits.

 

[someday]

A friend of mine took over the lease at the gym I go to now (former World's). Sizeable place...great gym. He started with $200k in his bank account. 3 yrs later he did not renew the lease and left owing $180k. There is a million opportunities with better returns than that.

 

[Growman]

That or open a crossfit gym. Then you can reasonable charge each member $150-250 a month and can get by with a 2000 sq ft facility with some rowers, a few cages, and bumper plates.

True, thats the craze with some people and it must be profitable as they are popping up everywhere. Plus its like a cult, once people are in they are IN !!!

Its not for me, but to each his own

 

[Allday]

True, thats the craze with some people and it must be profitable as they are popping up everywhere. Plus its like a cult, once people are in they are IN !!!

Its not for me, but to each his own

Oh man same here. There's a few where I used to live that started just before it blew up and now they are killing it.

Couldn't do it either, even if I was guaranteed success (well never say never, but not into it).

It's an amazing model for success though. Market to normal, everyday, out of shape people that even they can look and feel like an elite athlete just by competing against themselves or the clock. Great for people who never played sports or weren't good enough to take it to the next level.

Even the "greatest" crossfitter ever (Froning) was an average D3 baseball player in college, irrc. Idk how it is exactly in baseball but with football, if you were a multiple year starter in hs and was within height/weight/speed ranges you can easily be recruited by a D2, D3 school.

 

[GettingBackIn]

Every gym or gym company i have heard of recently is struggling to stay in business. I know Golds was in big trouble, and in the the Northeast the New York Sports Clubs and the others Boston, Philly and DC Sports Clubs were all in trouble... Makes me think its a hard gig.

I hate to say it but gyms like planet fitness have the right model for making money. They target people that dont actually work out, and they make it cheap enough that there is no reason to cancel. So you have lots of members who dont show up but keep paying.

Seems like a better deal out west, when I lived out there the gyms were great and about $30 a month. Las Vegas Athletic Clubs and 24 hour fitness out there were great, well maintained and cheap....

All gyms survive off of the members who pay and don't show up, but the planet fitness model of minimal employees and the ability to come and go as you want 24/7 for cheap is what anytime fitness is doing, which is why I considered it.

That or open a crossfit gym. Then you can reasonable charge each member $150-250 a month and can get by with a 2000 sq ft facility with some rowers, a few cages, and bumper plates.

I know a lot of people knock CrossFit, but that was my original plan. I have a military background and thought I would market that and run a CrossFit/functional training gym when I retired. Unfortunately I'm retired because I have a back injury and major nerve damage, so any functional training is out. I'm just trying to stay busy so I don't end up fat and depressed now that I can't do much physically.


Thanks again to everyone who replied, especially people with direct experience with anytime fitness. I felt like their fees were vague and suspicious, so that's what I was looking for. I have a few other options. I'll keep looking.

 

[kinglewy]

I had a membership at one time to a small 24/7 anytime gym...it was great there was never really anybody in there it was like having a whole gym for myself. It went up for sale and the owners only wanted 15k for it, they didn't own the building so ofcourse there would have been a lease involved. I wanted so bad to buy it and had the money at the time but I knew financialy it would be a loser.

If you want to actually make money i'd stear clear of gyms...now if your loaded and have a bunch of disposable income sitting around and just want to have your own personal gym i'd go for it.