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Fitness chain expands its reachDate: 27.12.2006
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team United States
In the competitive field of health clubs, Planet Fitness has certainly proved itself fit.
In the past two years, the company has taken over the membership of a half-dozen health clubs: Delmar Health and Fitness, Sweat Shop of Albany, Super Fitness and New York Fitness of Colonie, All American Fitness of Schenectady, and Fit for Her of Delmar.
The Capital Region's latest club to close, Arizona Fitness on Wolf Road in Colonie, sold its membership list to Planet Fitness competitor Best Fitness, another corporate chain, which has two local gyms.
These chains are helping to change the face of health clubs in the region. Just a few years ago, it was typical to pay $40 to $50 a month for a gym membership. Today, Best Fitness charges as low as $20 a month; Planet Fitness is as low as $10.
"It's been most definitely a challenge," said Erin McDonald, manager at FitStop, a three-year-old private gym in Albany that charges $59 per month for an individual membership, or $39 for those who come only at less-popular hours.
"People don't value gyms like ours," she said. "When they see our prices they kind of balk and say, 'Such-and-such gym charges $15 a month and you guys are very high.' I think they undervalue gym memberships in general due to that."
Competition has been made even stiffer by the growth of not-for-profit health clubs like YMCAs, which now have fitness centers -- often built with help from public money and grants -- in Albany, East Greenbush, Clifton Park, Bethlehem, Guilderland, Schenectady and other communities.
Then there's the Rudy A. Ciccotti Family Recreation Center in Colonie, a $14.5 million project built on public land with help from donations and grants.
Dave Leon, 45, owner of the local Planet Fitness franchise, said he knew the model for a successful fitness club had to change years ago.
Leon, a former competitive bodybuilder, started his first gym in Schenectady in 1988. He also owned Powerhouse Gym in Rotterdam and then the Leon Center in the same town. None of them worked, he said.
"It never generated the membership base the way the new models do," he said.
Leon said he turned to Planet Fitness when he saw Best Fitness come in -- and consequently open its two clubs near his two independent clubs.
Planet Fitness operations are austere but colorful, heavy on treadmills and elliptical machines but without such amenities as aerobics classes. The company is perhaps most famous for its "lunk alarm," a siren and flashing light that is turned on to discourage grunting while lifting weights.
The idea is to avoid intimidating first-time gym users with bodybuilding behavior. The company even bans string tank tops, Timberland boots and other clothes favored by hard-core bodybuilders. Revenue and membership information on Planet Fitness was not available Tuesday.
Rick Caro, a New York City-based consultant for health clubs, said Planet Fitness represents only part of the market.
"This is still a new story that's a work in progress," he said of the company's impact.
Of 29,000 health clubs in the nation, fewer than 5 percent are controlled by the top 10 fitness companies, he said. Many are still independent, including many locally.
At Forever Young Health Club in Green Island, Vice President Mary Alice Berlino said she isn't worried about chains.
"The competition has actually helped us in many respects," she said. After customers see the corporate clubs, "they choose to come here," she said.
At Excel 180 Personal Fitness in Colonie, members pay $70 a month for top-of-the-line equipment available with fitness classes and the kind of locker rooms found at high-end country clubs.
"I've been in 10 different gyms," said member Florence Yattaw of Colonie. "This is the nicest gym I've ever been to."
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