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suprdude22
Sep 2, 2005, 4:27 AM
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Does anybody know anything about the financials of a climbing gym? I have heard some are extremely profitable, but others dont seem to make money. I guess, does anybody know what the overhead costs are like on a gym, say 10K sq. ft of climging? How many people come through a gym like that? Or, basicaly anyting else on the figures of a gym. Feel free to get as technical as you want. Thanks for the info.
Mike
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lambone
Sep 2, 2005, 5:18 AM
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To have a 10k wall built proffesionally you are looking at at least $300k-$500K. And that is just for the ewall, add an extra $100-200K just to open the doors.
My guestamite on the operating cost on a facility that size would be at least $15k per month, probably $20k inorder to staff it properly. Rent, Payrool, insurance, CAM, Utilities, Marketing, maitnence, etc, etc...
How much would you bring in totally depends on where your gym is located and how well you market it.
Bottom line, if you want to ope a big gym of 10k+, think about a large population center without much competition.
good luck :) live the dream
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suprdude22
Sep 2, 2005, 6:19 AM
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awesome. Thanks for the info. I have an idea for a place with a HUGE population, that doesnt seem to have a climbing gym. Im not sure why there isnt one there. If other places have them, I dont know why this one doesnt. Got any ideas why a heavily populated area wouldnt have a climbing gym? The thing I was thinking is that the market may not be there, but with a nice climbing gym and good location, I dont think it would be that hard to create a market. Creating a market is usually easier than trying to take pieces of a market away from a competitor.
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kletter1mann
Sep 2, 2005, 2:31 PM
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In reply to: I have an idea for a place with a HUGE population, that doesnt seem to have a climbing gym. Im not sure why there isnt one there. If other places have them, I dont know why this one doesnt. Got any ideas why a heavily populated area wouldnt have a climbing gym? |
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kirkenplop
Sep 2, 2005, 4:13 PM
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Suprdude... Check your PM's... I think I may be able to help you out.
lambone (Matt, right?) You're killing me with these numbers here... we are SO competitive! Can we go back a year or so so I can bid your project? Please? If you ever build more walls or boulders, we should definitely talk.
How's the opening coming?
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cdoiron
Sep 7, 2005, 12:43 AM
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Just wanting to note that even population size doesn't always help. Oklahoma City Proper is about a half a million and our only gym gets a small amount of traffic most days. The gym really inovative using an abondend grain silo in downtown.http:/www.okcrocks.com
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kletter1mann
Sep 7, 2005, 1:19 PM
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In reply to: Just wanting to note that even population size doesn't always help. Oklahoma City Proper is about a half a million and our only gym gets a small amount of traffic most days. The gym really inovative using an abondend grain silo in downtown.
What kind of marketing do they do? How much effort to bring newcomers in and get them hooked?
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suprdude22
Sep 7, 2005, 1:55 PM
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hmmm, that doesn't sound good. The gym I go to now, only has about 50,000 people that might think about going, and it seems to stay a float. Sounds like they could use some serious marketing, assuming getting to downtown isn't too difficult. PM me if the need any ideas.
Lata,
Mike
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jkarns
Sep 7, 2005, 2:18 PM
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the real question is how amny birthday parties can you book.
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asandh
Sep 7, 2005, 2:28 PM
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:)
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lambone
Sep 7, 2005, 3:43 PM
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It is possible to build a climbing gym where local climbers can hand out AND run programing like youth groups and birthday parties. Both are key elements t the gym...
A gym should keep the two groups somewhat seperate by design.
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asandh
Sep 7, 2005, 4:07 PM
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:)
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maculated
Sep 7, 2005, 4:32 PM
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It has nothing to do with blanket assumptions. I'm opening a gym in a town of 40,000. It will be about the size of Matt's but the only reason I would do that is because this town has a huge outdoor-interest. People surf, parasail, hike, ride, climb, kayak . . . and that all translates to interest in climbing. People are also rich here. Rich helps. And lots of young families to join. We have six gyms in town, each has thousands of members.
If you're thinking about starting a gym, you really need to start asking questions of yourself. Not that I am an expert,but that's my experience thus far.
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cracklover
Sep 7, 2005, 4:48 PM
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In reply to: It is possible to build a climbing gym where local climbers can hand out AND run programing like youth groups and birthday parties. Both are key elements t the gym... A gym should keep the two groups somewhat seperate by design.
Yes - Boston is a only a medium-sized city, but we're keeping two gyms afloat, one of which is quite big.
Boston has a long history of climbing and a very active population of dedicated climbers (note the Mass-Climbers thread right here on rc.com). That certainly helps. But I know from talking to the owner of the gym I mostly climb at, (MetroRock - www.metrorock.com) that the B-day parties are what keeps his gym afloat!
What makes the gym so phenomenal is that they seem to be very successful at satisfying both the birthday party crowd and the serious climbers, and without either being in the other's way. I've never once even noticed a B-day party in process, while in other gyms, the little kids can be a nightmare to any more "serious" climbers.
I can't speak to what the gym did to cater to the parties, except that I know they have a dedicated "conference room" style room for the actual cake and whatnot. But I can say what they did to cater to dedicated climbers - imaginative construction, long walls varying from severly overhanging to slabby, lots of leading, great routes, good variety of holds, good variety of ratings, routes changed often, and a big bouldering section.
That, my friends, is a successful gym. I haven't asked him about his finances, but if they're not making money, no-one can.
GO
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mheyman
Sep 7, 2005, 4:59 PM
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In reply to: what's the smallest market (population) you feel could support an average sized climbing gym ?
This is the key question. But, I'm not sure that anyone has a single correct answer. I've been interested in opening a gym for years. Know where I want it. Don't know what the area can/would support.
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cdoiron
Sep 7, 2005, 10:44 PM
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The only thing that I was trying to point out that size of pop. isn't a good measure by itself. Although OKC rocks could do a lot more advertising Their are situated right downtown. If you ever go through Oklahoma City on I-40 you are about 1/4 of a mile a way. It has a huge bilboard thing painted on it. There is a much larger percentage of people who hunt and fish climbing just doesn't have a large intrest quite yet. The gym does have parties etc. that come through but also is also good for local climbers ie. the smallest route is about 39' and the largest indoor is 88'. The gym has limited cost by being inovative. The routes are pretty much bolted into the walls directly, but they are also getting real rock hold routes on the outside. I recommend checking out their website okcrocks.com.
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cracklover
Sep 8, 2005, 3:52 AM
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In reply to: That, my friends, is a successful gym. I haven't asked him about his finances, but if they're not making money, no-one can. GO
I spoke to one of the owners tonight. They've never not made money since they opened their doors (about a year ago).
GO
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lambone
Sep 8, 2005, 4:23 AM
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In reply to: to lambone: assuming you have done your market research thoroughly, what's the smallest market (population) you feel could support an average sized climbing gym ?
The question your asking has a couple of vairiables that need to be nailed down. First, are you talking about one individual town, or all surrounding towns within about a 45 minute radius. Your market is really within that radius.
Second, "average" is pretty vague. Plus, you could build a huge gym out of plywood and 2x4s for pretty cheap. Or you could build a 20'X10' wall made to look like real rock for $50,000 alone. How big is the building, how much is the rent, do you own or lease, what are utility costs, what is the payrooll to adequately staff the facility and maintain customer service and safety? All important questions that factor into the bottom line considerably.
It gets complecated. Basically I don't know. I think a gym could be profitable in ANY town if you built to scale, had good rent, and were good at taping into different markets to develop a clientel. The most important thing is keeping overhead low and hitting your sales goals.
There is a Climbing Gym Market Survey available through the Outdoor Industry Association that gives some data on gyms in different size towns. However when making our B_Plan we didn't find it very usefull, because they didn't say wether those gyms were for profit, or not-for profit. And they didn't break down the sales data by population size. Basically it is some good data with a poor analaysis that doesn't let you draw many usefull conclusions. All it says is that there are many gyms in the country out of ~650 total in small towns of under 100k.
Hope that helps.
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climbinspired
Sep 20, 2005, 8:45 PM
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In reply to: It has nothing to do with blanket assumptions. I'm opening a gym in a town of 40,000. It will be about the size of Matt's but the only reason I would do that is because this town has a huge outdoor-interest. People surf, parasail, hike, ride, climb, kayak . . . and that all translates to interest in climbing. People are also rich here. Rich helps. And lots of young families to join. We have six gyms in town, each has thousands of members. If you're thinking about starting a gym, you really need to start asking questions of yourself. Not that I am an expert,but that's my experience thus far.
You mention that San Luis Obispo (where you're located) has six gyms in town... do you mean six general fitness gyms or six climbing gyms?
The reason I ask is I am researching opening a climbing gym in a large metro area that already has two climbing gyms. One of those gyms has been OVERRUN with screaming children at birthday parties, so no real climbers go there anymore, and the other one is in a horrible, distant location.
My biggest obstacle (at this point) is determining whether the market can support another gym, and location.
Thanks for any advice you may have!
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lambone
Sep 20, 2005, 10:11 PM
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well if the one gym is overrun with screaming children, and you can get a competitive edge with a better location, facility, and pricing...then you can likely steal some of their market.
however if you have visions of a "climber only" gym with no intention of programing to screaming kids, they you are basically dooming yourself to non-profitability and possibly failure.
Understanding the market is probably one of the hardest stages of the business plan (other the rasing capitol). Other fitness gyms in the area are good indicators of the market in the area (which is what maculated is getting at), and they are also your competition of a large segment of your market, which is athletic young adults just looking to get a workout and keep in shape.
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climbinspired
Sep 20, 2005, 11:18 PM
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Excellent point, lambone.
I think there has to be a balance there somewhere, between satisfying the birthday party crowd (your bread and butter, so to speak) and striving climbers, trying to improve (your heart).
That's where I think I can make my niche, here... offering a better location than the "climbers" gym and a better environment than the "overrun with kids" gym.
I think the climbing gym in New York that just "broke ground" has the right idea -- a separate "training" area for the kids, that is separated from the main walls by windows.
Thanks for the advice! I'll keep watching your posts for other great tidbits!
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lambone
Sep 21, 2005, 3:34 AM
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one solution to being able to impress/keep the climbers and have lots of screaming kids having fun is in the gym design. think "coral" to keep the kids somewhat isolated from the members.
the other recent thread about the new gym in new york in this forum is a perfect example.
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csgambill
Sep 21, 2005, 4:42 AM
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In reply to: ...our only gym gets a small amount of traffic most days. The gym really inovative using an abondend grain silo in downtown.http:/www.okcrocks.com[/quote] To be perfectly honest, that's probably part of the reason traffic is so low. They need to find a way to market the place better, or find a new location. I don't have any suggestions, I'm not a marketing or sales guy. I pay people for that sort of thing. :-) Just my $0.02
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kirkenplop
Sep 23, 2005, 4:23 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: ...our only gym gets a small amount of traffic most days. The gym really inovative using an abondend grain silo in downtown.http:/www.okcrocks.com[/quote] To be perfectly honest, that's probably part of the reason traffic is so low. They need to find a way to market the place better, or find a new location. I don't have any suggestions, I'm not a marketing or sales guy. I pay people for that sort of thing. :-) Just my $0.02[/quote] You hiring? My sales position just got taken over by the president of the company... he got sick of the drudgery of day to day business management. Great for me, eh? :shock:
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lambone
Sep 23, 2005, 9:21 PM
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that sucks Kirknplop. you still all for RockWerx then? IMHO their walls look like crap.
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kirkenplop
Sep 29, 2005, 6:22 PM
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I have to say that I still stand behind their products compared to most others... maybe not in terms of aesthetics compared to much more expensive stuff from, say, EP, but in terms of overall usefullness for their purpose, and value, I think RW makes the best stuff out there. I never had to come up with a sales pitch... there are real differences. I've seen them put up too many projects not to recognize certain advantages over the competition, like the texture. It's bomb-proof, feels realistic, not plasticy or gummy or rubbery, and doesn't interfere with hold placement. We didn't have any warranty repairs the whole time I was with the firm (over three years). Those guys can do their job quickly and well.
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lambone
Sep 29, 2005, 8:25 PM
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yeah, maybe...but I still don't like their coloring.
very big of you to stand behind them after getting canned. you should see if Eldo is hiring!
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climbinspired
Sep 30, 2005, 2:12 AM
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In reply to: yeah, maybe...but I still don't like their coloring. very big of you to stand behind them after getting canned. you should see if Eldo is hiring!
... or if EP USA is! ;)
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kletter1mann
Sep 30, 2005, 3:39 PM
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In reply to: yeah, maybe...but I still don't like their coloring. |
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kirkenplop
Oct 11, 2005, 3:23 AM
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Yeah, paint is definitely a process with a lot of client input, if they so choose. Also nice is that it can always be rhedone if not satisfactory. The only thing you really need to decide on that can't be changed is the base color of the texture.
I'm done with the climbing industry for the time being, except maybe to close and transfer some of the stuff I had going... decided to pursue a career in my most absorbing (and expensive) passion: motocross. Parts discounts, here I come!
If anyone needs some info, though, I'll be sure to check in from time to time; I learned a lot about the industry while I was in it, and I'm happy to help if I can. Laters!
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shortyduwop
Oct 17, 2005, 12:32 PM
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Unfortunaletly, birthday partis are where most of the money is made, therefore, u have to dedicate a decent portion of the wall to closely spaced jugs, the the kids can climb. climbing membership makes up such a small portion of income. I'm following your posts, as i am also thinking about opening a gym, in a potentially large market area.
Shorty
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. - Helen Keller
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blueeyedclimber
Oct 17, 2005, 12:59 PM
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In reply to: What makes the gym so phenomenal is that they seem to be very successful at satisfying both the birthday party crowd and the serious climbers, and without either being in the other's way. I've never once even noticed a B-day party in process, while in other gyms, the little kids can be a nightmare to any more "serious" climbers. I can't speak to what the gym did to cater to the parties, except that I know they have a dedicated "conference room" style room for the actual cake and whatnot. But I can say what they did to cater to dedicated climbers - imaginative construction, long walls varying from severly overhanging to slabby, lots of leading, great routes, good variety of holds, good variety of ratings, routes changed often, and a big bouldering section. That, my friends, is a successful gym. I haven't asked him about his finances, but if they're not making money, no-one can. GO
You forgot GREAT routesetters :wink:
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cracklover
Oct 17, 2005, 6:59 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: What makes the gym so phenomenal is that they seem to be very successful at satisfying both the birthday party crowd and the serious climbers, and without either being in the other's way. I've never once even noticed a B-day party in process, while in other gyms, the little kids can be a nightmare to any more "serious" climbers. I can't speak to what the gym did to cater to the parties, except that I know they have a dedicated "conference room" style room for the actual cake and whatnot. But I can say what they did to cater to dedicated climbers - imaginative construction, long walls varying from severly overhanging to slabby, lots of leading, great routes, good variety of holds, good variety of ratings, routes changed often, and a big bouldering section. That, my friends, is a successful gym. I haven't asked him about his finances, but if they're not making money, no-one can. GO You forgot GREAT routesetters :wink:
[inside]Josh and I are setters there. :)[/inside]
All kidding aside - good routes make a *huge* difference! And you simply must have a good number of routesetters, because different people come to the gym for different things. A great route set by me will be completely useless for a climber like JT512, who wants a simple straightforward sequence without pure rests and with lots of small holds - useful for training at level 5.n. Some setters at my gym set good routes like that, I typically do not. My routes are characterized by difficult transitions, stemming, mantling, delicate weight-shifts, balance, etc. at level 5.n.
I strongly suggest *against* hiring a couple of professional setters to do everything.
GO
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lancebrock
Oct 21, 2005, 3:45 PM
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In reply to: Unfortunaletly, birthday parties are where most of the money is made. climbing membership makes up such a small portion of income
not true at my gyms. not even close.
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climbinspired
Oct 21, 2005, 4:01 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: Unfortunaletly, birthday parties are where most of the money is made. climbing membership makes up such a small portion of income not true at my gyms. not even close.
What do you believe makes the difference? What do you do to attract memberships? Where do you believe the other gyms are lacking? I'd be interested to know where you think the BIG difference is, as I'd like to open a gym where the birthday crowd could be kept to a minimum without compromising financial health! Don't get me wrong -- I don't hate kids (I have two) -- but I'd like to offer something different for the serious climber as the "kid" climbing gym already exists in my location.
THANKS!
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boadman
Oct 21, 2005, 4:21 PM
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I think that monolithic (the Spot in Boulder) has by far the best product. There's no other technology that cn mimic the real topology of rock the way that they can.
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boadman
Oct 21, 2005, 4:32 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: In reply to: Unfortunaletly, birthday parties are where most of the money is made. climbing membership makes up such a small portion of income not true at my gyms. not even close. What do you believe makes the difference? What do you do to attract memberships? Where do you believe the other gyms are lacking? I'd be interested to know where you think the BIG difference is, as I'd like to open a gym where the birthday crowd could be kept to a minimum without compromising financial health! Don't get me wrong -- I don't hate kids (I have two) -- but I'd like to offer something different for the serious climber as the "kid" climbing gym already exists in my location. THANKS!
The Rock Club (also known as the Cock Rub) in Boulder has an upstairs "training area" on a balcony that overlooks the main climbing area. The walls are shorter, less intimidating, and have big holds. The kids generally stay up there unless they make the transition to mighty mutant midgets and come down to the floor where the real climbers hang out. They've recently made some other "improvements" that I'm not so keen on, but that seems to work pretty well to isolate the two groups.
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renohandjams
Oct 21, 2005, 4:34 PM
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In reply to: Just wanting to note that even population size doesn't always help. Oklahoma City Proper is about a half a million and our only gym gets a small amount of traffic most days. The gym really inovative using an abondend grain silo in downtown.http:/www.okcrocks.com[/quote] I think a lot of it is also gym quality and marketing. Provo, Ut only has 90-100 thousand people but their large quarry gym is doing great. There use to be an old rock garden gym in the same area and it never saw close to the numbers of climbers that the Quarry gym sees. The gym is in a highly visibile area next to a movie theater and I think it has become a popular date activity for college students and for noobs who are interested to try it out. The side of the building is almost all glass too so people and look inside and see all of the climbers and get excited and say "I've never tried climbing, but that looks like fun, I'm going to go and try it." The Quarry was, don't know if they still are, they were doing a bring a friend thing for members, you could bring any friend you wanted for free as long as it was a different friend everytime. Awesome way to market your gym! +the quarry as a killer climbing shop as part of the gym. Whatever the Quarry did, they did it right, I would mimic every part of their set up if I was setting up my own gym in Reno.
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lambone
Oct 21, 2005, 6:57 PM
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In reply to: I think that monolithic (the Spot in Boulder) has by far the best product. There's no other technology that cn mimic the real topology of rock the way that they can.
True, but also extremely expensive. Their cost was over four times that per square foot of more basic/traditional rock wall designs. Try to build a wall with Monolithic of any decent square footage and you are looking at millions of dollars.
We considered just building a boulder with Mono, and the rest of the wall with another company, but in the end decided to spend less and avoid the hassel of two wall builders.
The other thing I didn't like was the density of their T-Nuts and the difficulty of maintaining them since you can't access the inside of the boulders.
But I agree, they feel real...and are very asthetically pleasing.
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billcoe_
Oct 21, 2005, 7:32 PM
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Bombay India - a city of some 20 million give or take a few million, has no climbing gym yet.
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climbinspired
Oct 21, 2005, 7:42 PM
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In reply to: Bombay India - a city of some 20 million give or take a few million, has no climbing gym yet.
Very funny. Ha Ha. Your point was???
Your geography lesson for the day: This city is no longer named Bombay. Act of Parliament changed the name to Mumbai in 1997. :D
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lancebrock
Oct 21, 2005, 7:43 PM
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some things that i think we do differently when it comes to memberships? we have free yoga and abs classes for members. we have an enclosed workout room. members get discounts on climbing gear, etc.
we tried to design the gym to balance the needs of the new climber, the regular hard climber and the groups. dont get me wrong, we do tons of groups. one month we had 7 overnighters and have had groups up to 250 people. we just have much more revenue from members. i think we are at 500 members or so in a year and a half.
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billcoe_
Oct 21, 2005, 7:44 PM
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They can change the name every 10 min for all I care, but that does not, of course, force me to change.
I probably have no points.
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boadman
Oct 22, 2005, 12:33 AM
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It's worth it. Also, they warranty their T-nuts as long you only let trained people put up holds. I personally think they've achieved optimum hold density. :wink: If you just have them put in a couple of boulders, they can build them at their shop and install them really quickly, so it wouldn't be hard to coordinate with other builders. Their flooring system is the best too, super comfy/safe/clean.
In reply to: In reply to: I think that monolithic (the Spot in Boulder) has by far the best product. There's no other technology that cn mimic the real topology of rock the way that they can. True, but also extremely expensive. Their cost was over four times that per square foot of more basic/traditional rock wall designs. Try to build a wall with Monolithic of any decent square footage and you are looking at millions of dollars. We considered just building a boulder with Mono, and the rest of the wall with another company, but in the end decided to spend less and avoid the hassel of two wall builders. The other thing I didn't like was the density of their T-Nuts and the difficulty of maintaining them since you can't access the inside of the boulders. But I agree, they feel real...and are very asthetically pleasing. |
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lambone
Oct 22, 2005, 1:33 PM
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In reply to: It's worth it.
sure, if you have $150,000 to spend on a small boulder, I'm sure it is well worth it...
Just better live in a place like Boulder where there are alot of boulderers (and rich kids).
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lambone
Oct 22, 2005, 1:36 PM
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In reply to: dont get me wrong, we do tons of groups. one month we had 7 overnighters....
huh? what'dya mean overnighters? Like people sleep at the gym?
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oklahoma_climber
Oct 22, 2005, 3:47 PM
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In reply to: Just wanting to note that even population size doesn't always help. Oklahoma City Proper is about a half a million and our only gym gets a small amount of traffic most days. The gym really inovative using an abondend grain silo in downtown. http://www.okcrocks.com
population has nothing to do with that... greater okc (edmond to norman, yukon to mid/del) is well over a million people, with sufficient affluence and climbing interest.
the problem is that okcrocks is a crappy gym, and does not seem to be managed well at all. the route setters are handicapped by the walls (flat, vertical concrete, minimal hold-locations). and the bouldering area is way too small and is overrun by thugs who have no sense of ethics or politeness. and the employees seem content to sit at the front desk and watch tv rather than work or (gasp) climb the walls they work for.
even with gas hovering just under $3.00 / gal, its still worth it just to drive to the wichitas or to chandler in tulsa (both +1.5 hours) than spend $10 to climb downtown.
i should make it clear that i have climbed there several times, but i have not lived in okc for almost 2 full years now, so my opinions may be out of date. i do believe, however, that they are under their 3rd management in 5 or 6 years, which tells me that things are unchanged. however, i'd be very glad to hear otherwise, so please let me know.
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lancebrock
Oct 23, 2005, 6:34 PM
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In reply to: huh? what'dya mean overnighters? Like people sleep at the gym?
yes. lock-ins or whatever you call them.
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tenesmus
Oct 23, 2005, 7:44 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: Just wanting to note that even population size doesn't always help. Oklahoma City Proper is about a half a million and our only gym gets a small amount of traffic most days. The gym really inovative using an abondend grain silo in downtown.http:/www.okcrocks.com[/quote] I think a lot of it is also gym quality and marketing. Provo, Ut only has 90-100 thousand people but their large quarry gym is doing great. There use to be an old rock garden gym in the same area and it never saw close to the numbers of climbers that the Quarry gym sees. The gym is in a highly visibile area next to a movie theater and I think it has become a popular date activity for college students and for noobs who are interested to try it out. The side of the building is almost all glass too so people and look inside and see all of the climbers and get excited and say "I've never tried climbing, but that looks like fun, I'm going to go and try it." The Quarry was, don't know if they still are, they were doing a bring a friend thing for members, you could bring any friend you wanted for free as long as it was a different friend everytime. Awesome way to market your gym! +the quarry as a killer climbing shop as part of the gym. Whatever the Quarry did, they did it right, I would mimic every part of their set up if I was setting up my own gym in Reno.[/quote] That's a great gym. They have splitter cracks too. You could get good there. Wish Salt Lake had something like that. Its just that no one goes to the gym for 7-8 months of the year. The climbing outside is too fantastic! So, the question for me is how could anyone make a gym that survives the spring-to-fall and still pays for itself in this town?
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treez
Oct 23, 2005, 10:47 PM
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Our gym is for sale here in Juneau. Someone should buy it so it doesn't get turned into a tourist trinket warehouse. I'd say it's a nice gym, but it's also the only one I've been to and I don't like indoor climbing much. I also have a feeling it's no cash cow, but if someone wanted to try gym ownership with pre-existing infrastructure, here's their chance.
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jabtocrag
Oct 24, 2005, 12:55 AM
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Registered: Apr 22, 2003
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When ET built their gym in Timonium a couple years back, they ended up spending $1.3 million before the doors opened....granted, the gym's 19000 sq ft. with 55 ft walls.
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morganicclimbing
Oct 31, 2005, 4:08 PM
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I have owned a small gym in UT for over a year now. I also have sold climbing holds to new gyms and existing gyms for 5 years now. We also just started building small walls in residential areas and I have come to these conclusions about gyms...
The one with the biggest gym wins (assuming it is also really cool). If you build a half ass gym then someone will come along and build a bigger and better one to put you out of business. If you do it right from the beginning then nobody will want to compete. As said before, make sure it attracts the masses from b-day parties to the die hard climbers.
Capitalize on all areas of income. We had our best months ever this summer. Yes in UT. We picked up a portable climbing wall to take to all the summer events and used it as a marketing tool on wheels. In doing so we created more business for the gym but also made a lot of money.
Gear/Pro shops are a huge plus. Choose a location that needs a pro shop as well as a gym. A local pro shop in our area can pull in $1000 a day just from selling gear. That's $ you don't want to miss out on.
The rest has already been mentioned by others so I won't repeat it. I know the owner of the Quarry in Provo (that has been mentioned), the owner of a new gym just like the Quarry up here in the Northern part of UT and the new owners of similar gyms going up between Provo and up here in the North. The story is the same... do it right in the beginning even though it may cost more and you will see some profit.
Good luck to everyone that is thinking about opening a gym. It is a lot of fun. It is however a full time job so plan on putting in the hours. They are tearing down our little gym to put in a car dealership (long story) so now I will put all my effort back into Morganic Climbing and leave the gym owning to the rest of you. It was a great learning experience though. Our gym will be replaced by the 1.5 million kind so I'm speaking from experience here. Luckily they are cool and waiting for our gym to leave so they don't compete with us.
Good luck!
Lance
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tenesmus
Oct 31, 2005, 7:19 PM
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lance,
where? When? Hope its close to slc...
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morganicclimbing
Oct 31, 2005, 8:39 PM
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I probably shouldn't say much until they are a done deal but there will be one in Sandy and one in Layton within the next year or two.
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