In the close to five months since Trevor Linden left his role as president of hockey operations at the Vancouver Canucks, much of his time has been spent focusing on how to expand the two fitness enterprises that he largely owns with longtime business partner Chuck Lawson.
The duo are the main partners in an ownership group that owns a 40% stake in Club 16 Trevor Linden Fitness Centre & Gyms, after selling 60% of that company to Founders Advantage Capital (TSX-Venture: FCF), in December 2016. The Club 16 Trevor Linden Fitness Centre & Gyms business includes gyms branded She’s Fit!, which are exclusively for women.
Linden and Lawson also own Lower Mainland franchise rights for the Florida-based fitness brand Orangetheory Fitness.
“We’ll probably have four new [Orangetheory Fitness] locations this year, bringing us up to 12,” Linden told Business in Vancouver on January 15.
“It’s a great product and people love it.”
Linden is gearing up for the official grand opening for his eighth Orangetheory Fitness location, at 2892 Cambie Street, near West 13th Avenue, on January 19. He told BIV that his plan is to announce “in the next month or so,” a ninth location, in Kitsilano.
Canadawide, Orangetheory Fitness ended 2018 with 84 locations, up 24 from a year earlier, the company announced on January 15. By the end of March, the company expects to have a further 12 locations open in Canada.
Orangetheory Fitness differs from standard gyms in that their product is fitness classes.
There are three sections to the Orangetheory Fitness facilities: treadmills, rowing machines and a weight floor. A coach directs the classes of 24 people and guides participants, who are all fitted with heart monitors, through different zones, marked with different colours.
One of those five colours is orange, hence the company’s name. Participants are expected to spend between 12 and 20 minutes in the orange zone, which is where there is intense cardiovascular activity that leads to burning calories.
At the end of their workouts, participants get readouts of how many calories they burned, how much time they spent in each of the five phases and other fitness statistics.
Because of the fitness centres’ business model, footprints tend to be in the 3,000-square-foot range – much smaller than full-sized gyms.
The Cambie Street location is Linden’s third Orangetheory Fitness location in the city of Vancouver, with others on Davie Street and at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
His other Metro Vancouver Orangetheory Fitness locations are in:
•South Surrey;
•Langley;
•Port Moody;
•Delta; and
•North Vancouver.
The Club 16 Trevor Linden Fitness Centre & Gyms business operates 10 Metro Vancouver gyms, which tend to be in the 20,000- to 25,000-square-foot range.
“We just had our grand opening in Tsawwassen,” Linden said. “It’s a 22,000-square-foot facility. It’s been very well received by the community.”
He said that an 11th location is yet to be announced but is under construction.
The 10 current gyms include three, which are in Surrey. Others are located in:
•downtown Vancouver;
•North Vancouver
•Burnaby
•Coquitlam
•Maple Ridge;
•Abbotsford; and,
•Tsawwassen.
There are 13 She’s Fit! locations with most of those being adjacent to a Club 16 gym.
Linden said that he and Lawson have no plans to sell any more of their stake in Club 16 Trevor Linden Fitness Centre & Gyms.
“It’s been a good partnership [with majority-owner Founders Advantage Capital] and we’re still fully running the company,” Linden said. “It’s been a good situation.”
