In this city, fitness is at the core of our lifestyle. We run the seawall, ski the peaks and sweat it out at the gym. But today’s indoor workouts are shaping up to be very different from the spandex-clad aerobics of yesteryear.
This past decade has given rise to a boom of boutique studios offering everything from cycling in the dark to ballet-based workouts. Traditional gyms are also evolving, cranking up their offerings a step and extending their reach.
We spoke to five gyms to find out what it takes to make it in the Metro Vancouver market.
Barbie Bent,
owner of Lagree West
Q: How do you differentiate your business?
A: The main differentiator is we use a patented machine called the Megaformer. It’s unique to licensees. They describe it a lot in the media like a souped-up Pilates reformer. Essentially, the creator invented it to enable a much higher-intensity full-body workout.
Q: Is it a franchise? Tell us about revenue growth.
A: No, it’s not a franchise. Lagree West is a licence of Lagree Fitness, and we’re the only one in Vancouver. We have one in Gastown (opened in November this year) and Lonsdale (opened in August). There are over 300 Lagree studios worldwide.
We were really lucky in that we were pretty busy right off the bat. It helps having a low capacity, so we can only fit 10 to 12 people in our classes, and we have really great instructors who are pretty active in the Vancouver fitness community. We’ve seen healthy growth with our second studio.
Q: What’s the greatest challenge in running a gym?
A: For me, it was definitely finding the space in Vancouver – especially for something like Lagree, where you have these huge machines. You need a fairly large space, and Vancouver real estate is definitely not cheap.
Q: How do you maintain a competitive edge?
A: I think it goes back to our unique offering as well as all the little things that make your studio you: it’s your community that you develop, your customer service through your instructors, and truly and authentically getting to know your guests.
Ella Jotie,
co-founder and creator
of Barre Fitness
Q: How do you differentiate your business?
A: First and foremost, we’re 100% Canadian. The other dedicated barre studios in the market are U.S. franchises, so when we opened in 2010 in Yaletown, we were the first barre studio in all of Canada. It was a pretty daunting project. Since we opened, we’ve seen a rise in the popularity of barre-based workouts. We differentiate ourselves in a couple of ways. We hire trained and qualified instructors. Also, we offer specific class variation. We raise money for local charities through fundraising events.
Q: Is it a franchise? Tell us about revenue growth.
A: Our first week of classes, we had two to four clients in a class. By our third month in business, we were starting to sell out classes. We planned out for six months’ additional capital to help us through, and we only needed three.
We decided to grow our business in a similar fashion to other models in the United States, so we started franchising our company in 2012 and opened our first franchise in North Vancouver. After testing the model, we pushed the franchising and opened two new locations in Port Moody and South Surrey, which have both exceeded our expectations. We already have three more locations on deck. It’s snowballing.
Q: What’s the greatest challenge in running a gym?
A: In the day-to-day of studio operations, I think it’s staff management, because you work with a large staff of instructors who have other jobs and work in other places. ... From an entrepreneurship level, the challenge is in scaling the business in an intelligent way.
Q: How do you maintain a competitive edge?
A: Create community, not competition. We don’t focus so much on our competitors. I think there’s room in the market for everyone to be successful, so we just stay focused on what we do best, which is creating that awesome client experience, which is being part of the community, and we feel it takes care of itself.
Jillian Sheridan,
founder of Eastwood Cycle
Q: How do you differentiate your business?
A: For one, we offer two different class styles. Most spin studios focus on just one style. Also, I think in general our overall look, experience and feel is very different from other fitness studios. We have a really cool lounge downstairs and we really focus on the overall experience. ... All of our classes are done in the dark, lit by candles and really loud, energetic music. I love the atmosphere.
Q: Is it a franchise? Tell us about revenue growth.
A: No, my husband and I own both of them (first location on West Hastings opened two years ago). We opened on the North Shore on July 1 and it’s been a fantastic community to be a part of. As far as expansion, we do have aggressive expansion plans.
I opened [the downtown location] at a point within the spin industry when people were excited about it. We’ve grown by 400% in two years. Every month, we’re seeing a growth in profit, which is really exciting.
Q: What is the greatest challenge?
A: I think every day is different. There’s always a different challenge or hurdle each day – like if something goes wrong with your plumbing or if your breaker goes – but it also makes it exciting.
Q: How do you maintain a competitive edge?
A: We’re constantly trying to do different, cool things around the city. For instance, we were the first to set up bikes at the SeaWheeze [Lululemon half-marathon]. We were the first to do an outside ride – at the Four Seasons, on their pool deck. We’re always trying to recreate the wheel and do things people haven’t seen before. And once we’ve done it, we try something else, and that keeps people talking.
Jason Darr,
co-founder of CrossFit 604
Q: How do you differentiate your business?
A: I think the biggest difference from our gym and every other gym is we built our gym from a client’s perspective. [Co-founder] Riley [Darr] and I were CrossFitters long before we opened our own gym and the line of work we were in had us travelling all over the world, so we got to experience a number of CrossFit gyms. We realized there wasn’t a gym here that was providing everything we were after. There was a hole in the market.
Q: Is it a franchise? Tell us about revenue growth.
A: It’s not a franchise; CrossFit as a whole is a licensing agreement. They regulate very little between CrossFit gyms. They have a few requirements and you have to pay an annual fee. We opened our doors in the summer of 2012. My wife and I pretty much had to put it all on the line. We initially anticipated it would take 11 to 13 months to get to a point where we were not losing money each month, and we actually achieved that in our first three months, so we grew really, really quickly.
Q: What’s the greatest challenge in running a gym?
A: I think it’s finding the right people to work with. We’re very fortunate. We’ve got an amazing team: it’s a great mesh of people who work well together and all have common goals.
Q: How do you maintain a competitive edge?
A: We try not to compete with other brands in our market; we only try to compete with ourselves. ... We always try to do a better job than we are already doing. Every single day we ask ourselves: “How can we be better?”
Chris Smith,
COO of Steve Nash Fitness World & Sports Club
Q: How do you differentiate your business?
A: Both our group fitness and personal training programs are very robust. We have a lot of members who participate in those services in our clubs. We know it resonates because they continue to come back for more.
Q: What’s the greatest challenge in running a gym?
A: I think the biggest challenge is just making sure you keep everyone centred. It’s making sure we meet their needs. In our case, we have thousands upon thousands of members – north of 100,000 – and it’s about making sure we meet all their needs across those demographics and communities.
Q: Is it a franchise? Tell us about revenue growth.
A: No, we’re independent and privately held. We have 21 locations, with the 22nd under construction at Park Royal mall [set to open in early 2017]. SNFW Fitness B.C. is the parent company. We also bought the franchise rights to UFC Gym: the first opened in Kelowna in January this year and the second will be in the Coquitlam area.
Q: How do you maintain a competitive edge?
A: We try to be tip of the spear. I mean that in the sense that we want to be setting industry trends, not following them. Historically, we’ve done a good job of that. We try to be in that leading edge of what’s going on, and that’s everything from our app or software development to new function equipment.
