Large Club Owners- Consider a Sattelite Studio

It is no secret that women-only circuit training clubs saturated the country a few years ago. The Curves for Women franchise at one time boasted over 10,000 locations. Although thousands of Curves clubs have closed in the last few years (for a number of reasons; over-saturation of markets, unqualified owners, lack of support, high franchise fees, inferior equipment, tight franchise restrictions, etc.), they still are a significant factor in the fitness industry across the country. There is no doubt that they are still a thorn in the side of larger coed facilities by taking away thousands of potential members. With their message of “no intimidation” and the time efficiency of a 30 minute workout, these clubs appeal to the needs of today’s deconditioned, busy Baby Boomers.

Some large clubs have attempted to counter these circuit training clubs by offering their own “express” type of circuits within their facilities using conventional weight stack machines borrowed from their main workout area. However, the problem of getting the intimidated person in the front door still remains. Some progressive club owners have opened their own satellite circuit training/weight loss studios to attract the out-of-shape and intimidated market and act as “feeder” clubs into the main club. With satellite clubs, when a member reaches a certain level of fitness and gets over the initial intimidation, it can be an easy upgrade into the “mother” club. One of the biggest problems that Curves clubs face is a high drop-out rate when members hit a plateau because of their non-adjustable equipment. They have nothing to offer when a members says "now what?".

Low overhead is a major key to the success of these circuit training studios. Rents and personnel costs for 1,200- 2,000 square feet facilities are obviously much less than those of 20,000+ square foot clubs. For example, if you assume the rent for a small facility to be about $2,500.00 per month and if you have four part time people working 20 hours per week each at a rate of $10.00 per hour, your overhead would be approximately $6,000.00 per month. Typically, a small women’s circuit training club will charge $39.00- $49.00 a month for memberships; the average club needs 125-150 members to break even. Much higher fees can be charged if a weight loss program is incorporated into memberships. Fees of $499.00- $599.00 are not unusual for 8-12 weeks of a weight loss program- with no exercise component.

Granted, small studios will not generate the profit dollars made by larger clubs, but percentage-wise, these small clubs can be much more profitable (and much less expensive to set up and staff). Besides enjoying new profit, the key factor to remember is that members of these small clubs can be transitioned into the main club when they are ready- a feeder system for those people who would normally not join a large club. Members of Curves have no where to go when they reach a plateau.