Vancouver's fitness centre sector is about to get more competitive now that U.S. gym franchiser Gold's Gym is acting on ambitious plans to open 20 new facilities in the Lower Mainland within the next two years.
The Texas-based multinational has operated in Metro Vancouver for decades and has three locations.
Instead of expansion, however, the chain has shrunk in recent years.
So, on April 1, the company decided not to renew longtime Canadian master franchiser Ziad Jaber's contract, said Tim Hicks, Gold's Gym senior vice-president of franchising and international operations.
Gold's Gym will consequently manage current franchisees and find new ones across Canada instead of using Jaber as a middleman.
Fitness centres, pools and other recreational facilities are a $2 billion-plus industry in Canada. A disproportionate amount of that revenue is likely generated in B.C. given that British Columbians tend to be more active and health conscious than counterparts in the rest of Canada.
Gold's Gym's immediate growth plans will largely come from longtime Vancouver franchisee Victor Newman, who owns the gyms in Langley and at the University of British Columbia.
Newman has signed a development agreement to open 10 gyms in the next two years.
Hicks added that Patrick Neadow, who owns the company's Burnaby and Kamloops gyms, might also open new gyms. Other new gyms will come from new franchisees.
"We're going to grow through existing franchisees," Hicks said.
"We have a great group of core franchisees today that we will use, and I believe we will attract more [franchisees]."
Hicks said Newman has signed leases and has preliminary construction plans for two new Vancouver gym sites, but he declined to reveal the locations.
Industry veterans are greeting Gold's Gym's news with a shrug – if not a smirk.
"It's an interesting prospect that they think they're going to open 20 new gyms because, from a factual perspective, they just closed a location," said Chris Smith, vice-president of sales and fitness at Steve Nash Fitness World & Sports Club.
Gold's closed its gym at the Riverport entertainment and leisure complex in southeast Richmond in November.
Staff were given less than 12 hours' notice, and members were left without any local alternative gym in which to work out.
A few years ago, the North Vancouver Gold's Gym also closed.
Hicks dismissed the closures as unimportant because, he said, it is normal for some locations to perform well and others to flounder and close.
