Opening a Gym

OmegaBravo7

OmegaBravo7

Well-known member
Trusted Member
I've been toying with the idea of opening up a gym. I've already been really dissapointed with the way most gyms are run these days and it only continues to get worse. Especially post-covid, it's going to be a shit show.

I have plans lined up for the next 24 months or so, so my ideal time of getting into the venture would be approximately 24-36 months out. What I have in mind would be old school style; mostly free weights, wanting to attract the serious lifters, throw monthly Bar B Que's, gifts, lifting contests, etc. Open 24hrs would be the goal.

What are you fella's thoughts on this venture? It would not be my main source of income nor would I be dependent on it. I would however want to see it flourish over the years, it would be a dream to retire one day and have a gym not only as an investment but something of a passionate goal accomplished and to see it passed down to my boy.

I wonder if any of you have done this or know of anyone who has. The one guy I know who was a boxer opened Bloor St Boxing on Bloor and Dundas. Very small spot, 5,000 sqft main flr is a gym and upstairs is where boxing is taught. He does extremely well now but we're not in talking terms. He asked me to model for his posters and I said not for free lol. I doubt he'd be of any help if asked.
 
At this time I honestly don't think it is the tight investment with all the lockdowns and then reopening with restrictions! This is coming from a small business owner I have a couple shisha bars that have done well over the years but I am struggling right now with the lockdowns and restrictions!
Honestly not trying to knock down your idea I am all up for owning businesses but it's been a crazy Rollercoaster this past year
 
I honestly wouldn’t plan on opening any venture like this as a side hustle. Everyone I know that owns any kind of gym is there all the time. I also don’t think the ROI is very good anymore as you have places like Fit4Less charging about $30 a month.
 
I think its great you want to do this but not sure it is the right time. You can hire someone to do a feasibility study to get real data but at this time the Gov't will control when your open and your rules. You can run it the way you want but be prepared to get shut down if they implement strict guidelines.
There is a huge investment/loan to get a gym open. A building, overhead for lights, air, heat, trainers, staff, stock, good equipment, maintenance, insurance, your salary as the owner unless you plan to take nothing and just a % of profits at year end if there are any, advertising, signage, and the list goes on.

I worked with two gyms in risk management to help them and it has been tough sledding for the last 2 decades even prior to covid. There are always the die hard, loyal guys but there is forever a new shiny gym opening somewhere that attracts some of your clientele.

I think your idea is intriguing but you insurance premiums are going to be high if you want to run a gym, also provide food, and have lifting contests.

If your planning on 2-3 years in the future, it might be better but that is an unknown.

Hope it works out for you.
 
In normal times this sounds like a good idea.
Unfortunately there is a war on small business and i think it is here to stay for a while.
This lock down crap is just training. Restrictions are here to stay in some form.
I would personally invest that money in a quiet secure place out in the country!
 
The Old Guy said:
Everyone I know that owns any kind of gym is there all the time. I also don’t think the ROI is very good anymore as you have places like Fit4Less charging about $30 a month.
Click to expand...
Spot on. That's what pops into my mind all the time. Places are charging pennies and that seems to be the main factor for many without considering what they're getting for $20-$30/month. That's really hard to compete with
 
Goldenrod said:
I think its great you want to do this but not sure it is the right time. You can hire someone to do a feasibility study to get real data but at this time the Gov't will control when your open and your rules. You can run it the way you want but be prepared to get shut down if they implement strict guidelines.
There is a huge investment/loan to get a gym open. A building, overhead for lights, air, heat, trainers, staff, stock, good equipment, maintenance, insurance, your salary as the owner unless you plan to take nothing and just a % of profits at year end if there are any, advertising, signage, and the list goes on.

I worked with two gyms in risk management to help them and it has been tough sledding for the last 2 decades even prior to covid. There are always the die hard, loyal guys but there is forever a new shiny gym opening somewhere that attracts some of your clientele.

I think your idea is intriguing but you insurance premiums are going to be high if you want to run a gym, also provide food, and have lifting contests.

If your planning on 2-3 years in the future, it might be better but that is an unknown.

Hope it works out for you.
Click to expand...

Yeh, and last yr I read the insurance rates are going to sky rocket for gyms, you just reminded me of this lol. The two companies I detest most that are the biggest legal criminals are the pharmaceuticals and insurance companies. Remember how restaurants were struggling during the covid shutdowns last yr? What did insurance companies do? They started gauging restaurants with their skyrocketted rates, while quite a few lost coverage - out of the blue mid contract - because it's in the fine print that they can.
 
Harley00 said:
Im thinkin more guys are going with home gyms, and more and more will follow suit.

We need more trt clinics on the east...theres pretty much.... umm none that would be great hire me ill be the consultant ...fakin tired of truckin.🤣
Click to expand...

I've thought about it lol. It's unbelievable how blatantly useless doctors are when it comes to TRT or hormones in general. If only trt clinics were allowed to be open by anyone who just went through some courses, tests, and licenses. They may not be licensed medical practicioners but they'd know hell of a lot more than 99% of the doctors around here do on the topic. Didn't Derek from moreplatesmoredates open a trt clinic? He's knowledgeable on the topic but not licensed I'm sure
 
superbeast said:
In normal times this sounds like a good idea.
Unfortunately there is a war on small business and i think it is here to stay for a while.
This lock down crap is just training. Restrictions are here to stay in some form.
I would personally invest that money in a quiet secure place out in the country!
Click to expand...

That's the plan when there are grandkids running around
 
OmegaBravo7 said:
I've thought about it lol. It's unbelievable how blatantly useless doctors are when it comes to TRT or hormones in general. If only trt clinics were allowed to be open by anyone who just went through some courses, tests, and licenses. They may not be licensed medical practicioners but they'd know hell of a lot more than 99% of the doctors around here do on the topic. Didn't Derek from moreplatesmoredates open a trt clinic? He's knowledgeable on the topic but not licensed I'm sure
Click to expand...
Im not sure, but your 100% right.
I bet on the east coast it would be a full house
 
I figured if I won 70 million in the lottery and moved to mexico I'd open a gym for somewhere to go, but not make profit. I don't think there is profit in a HardCore gym.

There just isn't enough Hardcore members.
Thing is planet fitness and such are doing well because they sell a membership to someone who never uses it, so they can oversell the location. This way in the end they make a profit.

For example, fat lazy people in January feel like doing something. They get a membership zero down, $10 a month for a 2 year term. They go 3 months, never again. Even after their term ends, its a bit of a pain to cancel, so for $10 a month they don't bother. Likely for years, you know, they may want to go back one day, lol.

So the gym really an only hold lets say 1000 members a week. But they sell over capacity knowing most won't show, so they are collecting money from 3000 members a week.(likely more)

Make it flashy, find a hook, not too serious because most are scared to work out and be embarrassed so no pressure. (well no pressure because they hope you stop showing, lol)

The days of the hardcore gym are gone, because truthfully most people are cheap. So gym pass to Omegas Hardcore Gym $110 a month, or planet fitness $10. Yeah they will do yours for a year then go for the lower rate, more money for gh now, lol.
You will kill yourself for nothing IMO.
Most small business owners make less than $100,000 a year and work 60 hours a week. If you are one of the lucky ones to be making good money, you sacrificed a lot to get there.
I have been looking to diversify. I do not want to get into the low profit areas of the meat business like restaurant wholesale, custom smoking. But I have pretty much adsorbed my market share. I also was looking for something that would be a bit easier to manage at a distance. I thought of a gym, but in my opinion, I think I'd be wasting my hard earned money.
 
OmegaBravo7 said:
I've thought about it lol. It's unbelievable how blatantly useless doctors are when it comes to TRT or hormones in general. If only trt clinics were allowed to be open by anyone who just went through some courses, tests, and licenses. They may not be licensed medical practicioners but they'd know hell of a lot more than 99% of the doctors around here do on the topic. Didn't Derek from moreplatesmoredates open a trt clinic? He's knowledgeable on the topic but not licensed I'm sure
Click to expand...
3 Years at a university and you to could start a clinic.
 
OmegaBravo7 said:
Yeh, and last yr I read the insurance rates are going to sky rocket for gyms, you just reminded me of this lol. The two companies I detest most that are the biggest legal criminals are the pharmaceuticals and insurance companies. Remember how restaurants were struggling during the covid shutdowns last yr? What did insurance companies do? They started gauging restaurants with their skyrocketted rates, while quite a few lost coverage - out of the blue mid contract - because it's in the fine print that they can.
Click to expand...

Edit: For the record, not all insurance companies. I was speaking in general. There are some good dudes that work for insurance companies and I don't mean them at all.
 
not enough people want to work out in a hardcore gym. So as sorbate pointed out membership rates would have to be very high to have a chance of covering the bills. Depending on city you might be lucky to get 500 members. With the square foot cost of most comercial spaces as they are the cost for membership would be through the roof. Thats just to cover the cost for the space let along havng lights on, paying staff, and all the other costs to doing business.
 
Sorbate said:
I figured if I won 70 million in the lottery and moved to mexico I'd open a gym for somewhere to go, but not make profit. I don't think there is profit in a HardCore gym.

There just isn't enough Hardcore members.
Thing is planet fitness and such are doing well because they sell a membership to someone who never uses it, so they can oversell the location. This way in the end they make a profit.

For example, fat lazy people in January feel like doing something. They get a membership zero down, $10 a month for a 2 year term. They go 3 months, never again. Even after their term ends, its a bit of a pain to cancel, so for $10 a month they don't bother. Likely for years, you know, they may want to go back one day, lol.

So the gym really an only hold lets say 1000 members a week. But they sell over capacity knowing most won't show, so they are collecting money from 3000 members a week.(likely more)

Make it flashy, find a hook, not too serious because most are scared to work out and be embarrassed so no pressure. (well no pressure because they hope you stop showing, lol)

The days of the hardcore gym are gone, because truthfully most people are cheap. So gym pass to Omegas Hardcore Gym $110 a month, or planet fitness $10. Yeah they will do yours for a year then go for the lower rate, more money for gh now, lol.
You will kill yourself for nothing IMO.
Most small business owners make less than $100,000 a year and work 60 hours a week. If you are one of the lucky ones to be making good money, you sacrificed a lot to get there.
I have been looking to diversify. I do not want to get into the low profit areas of the meat business like restaurant wholesale, custom smoking. But I have pretty much adsorbed my market share. I also was looking for something that would be a bit easier to manage at a distance. I thought of a gym, but in my opinion, I think I'd be wasting my hard earned money.
Click to expand...
musclememory said:
not enough people want to work out in a hardcore gym. So as sorbate pointed out membership rates would have to be very high to have a chance of covering the bills. Depending on city you might be lucky to get 500 members. With the square foot cost of most comercial spaces as they are the cost for membership would be through the roof. Thats just to cover the cost for the space let along havng lights on, paying staff, and all the other costs to doing business.
Click to expand...

Spot on fellas. This is actually a major issue. With most of these big box gyms you sign up for a low price and don’t even know od the small fine print which states you can cancel tour contract but would have to be the remainder of your contracted balance. They advertise $20 per month and when you go there like a fish you’re hooked. Sure, it’s $20/month but sign a contract for 12 months. No contract? No problem. Month to month $60/month. 90% sign up for the year contract, go for a week, and quit. That’s the easiest $220 the gym ever made. I know because I tried to help my fat aunt get out of her contract trying to use the pandemic to her favour last yr. They weren’t having it, sent to collections and damaged her credit so I just paid it off. Many stories like this on a daily basis

I thought my niche market for a hardcore gym would make up for the monthly premiums. But the math says no, lol
 
musclememory said:
not enough people want to work out in a hardcore gym. So as sorbate pointed out membership rates would have to be very high to have a chance of covering the bills. Depending on city you might be lucky to get 500 members. With the square foot cost of most comercial spaces as they are the cost for membership would be through the roof. Thats just to cover the cost for the space let along havng lights on, paying staff, and all the other costs to doing business.
Click to expand...

Agreed man that’s a shame. A hardcore gym in the states would do very well. But again it’s all about how cheap you can get the lease.

In about 2 yrs we’re planning on purchasing an industrial location for our business and I was just thinking to myself of shooting 2 birds with 1 stone. Create a massive basement with high ceilings through excavating and turning basement into a hardcore gym for $30/month. Size-wise probably 7k-8k sqft. Most industrial locations don’t have basements. To excavate and finish one that size would cost roughly $150k. I’m guesstimating total investment with assets would be closet to $300k. But at least there won’t be any major overhead.

365 Fitness is the closest to a decent and hardcore gym in Toronto. It’s massive though, and their monthly rates are high too. They do very well, a buddy used to work there before getting fired for fucking too many of the strippers that came in in the late hours 🤣
 
Owning your own building, outright, ie no rent overhead could be a game changer. Or at least give the gym a fighting chance at survival. The cost for space is insane. During the first lock down in Ontario the news did a story on an indoor soccer club somewhere up in Toronto. Anyway the space they were renting was very large, much larger than you were talking about. It was big enough for at least a couple of soccer fields. Their monthly rent was $17,000. Just insane. They were complaining that they would be unlikely to survive much of a lockdown even with government help if something couldnt be done about the monthly rent. The first thought that went through my mind is how many teams must they have and what their monthly fees must be that makes 17K in monthly rent doable? That is just insane. Its little wonder that so many businees fail when the space they rent cost this much. I guess it all goes back to the insane prices for real estate of all kinds.
 
musclememory said:
Owning your own building, outright, ie no rent overhead could be a game changer. Or at least give the gym a fighting chance at survival. The cost for space is insane. During the first lock down in Ontario the news did a story on an indoor soccer club somewhere up in Toronto. Anyway the space they were renting was very large, much larger than you were talking about. It was big enough for at least a couple of soccer fields. Their monthly rent was $17,000. Just insane. They were complaining that they would be unlikely to survive much of a lockdown even with government help if something couldnt be done about the monthly rent. The first thought that went through my mind is how many teams must they have and what their monthly fees must be that makes 17K in monthly rent doable? That is just insane. Its little wonder that so many businees fail when the space they rent cost this much. I guess it all goes back to the insane prices for real estate of all kinds.
Click to expand...
I pay over $5000 a month and I hammered a really good rate. I’m $4 a sqft below everyone else in the complex. My shop is only 2900 sq ft.
Thank god I bring over 100,000 people into the stripmall each year. Makes me an anchor tenant so I get a good rate.

Even commercial in butt fuck no where is going to be $8 plus common area which would likely be around $6. Both per square foot.
Then add on the power and ac and you’ll be another $2000 a month in juice if you are like 10,000 sqft and that wouldnot be a huge gym.

$16,000 just in operating costs pre month, so you need 1600 members paying $100 per month just to not pay yourself, lol.

Every year government adds on regulations that make it tougher to do business, red tape. Just to get your place built will be 6 months by the time you finish waiting for permits and I bet 300,000 at least just for a square box inside. Nevermind the extra costs for the regulations for the bathrooms, access at the door and so on.

God I don’t even want to get into staff, lol. No one cares like you do. And if you find those people, pay them well, if you can.

Honestly if I could do it all over again, I wold have got a way better education, and worked for a larger cooperation and got holidays, benefits, pension plan and none of the stress of day to day operations and keeping the place a float. You go home, work is done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top