Enter The Fitness Industry by Opening a Gym

People are incorporating fitness regimens in their daily life and fitness and gym equipment is now being used not only in gyms and health clubs, but in a wide range of commercial facilities and for a variety of reasons, this opens up the options when opening a gym. When purchasing gym equipment for a new gym or buying new equipment for an existing gym, you have a wide variety of fitness equipment at various price points that are perfect for various sectors of the fitness industry. Below is a breakdown of many of these various markets where opening a gym makes good sense. These are not all of the places that use fitness equipment. This list will give you a good idea of the many venues where opening a gym would be a great idea. These are listed alphabetically, not in order of importance.

Community and Recreation Centers

This includes for profit and non-profit centers. Typical Contact Person – the Executive Director of that particular center. If it is a government owned center, the contact person may be the purchasing agent for that government branch.

Corporate and Employee Fitness Centers

Corporations have come to realize the value that health and wellness has for their employees. It increases productivity, enhances the workplace atmosphere with a feeling of camaraderie and can drop employee workers compensation claims thereby reducing the corporation’s insurance premiums. Many corporations presently have or are looking to put in an employee fitness center regardless of the size of the corporation. Typical Contact Person – the Head of Human Resources. In a smaller corporation, the owner is your typical contact person. Often a corporation will allocate the job of finding fitness equipment for their center to a staff employee. Sometimes an employee who is a fitness enthusiast will take it upon themselves to check into putting together an employee fitness room. In these latter two instances, it is important for you to get to the actual final decision maker so that you can determine the real possibility of getting this sale. Otherwise, you can easily spend a lot of time providing quotes for someone who is just gathering information.

Developers and Architectural Firms

Developers and Architects often are working on projects that require fitness centers as part of an overall plan. Getting in with the developer or architect at the initial layout stage can help assure that you are the preferred or only choice for the fitness equipment that will be listed as part of the package. It may be a while until the sale comes in, but you will be in a strong position when it does. Typical Contact Person – The Head Developer or the Architect responsible for this specific project.

Government

This includes the sectors of government that are not included in any of the above markets, such as local, state and federal office buildings and Native American institutions. Typical Contact Person – The Purchasing Agent.

Gyms and Health Clubs

A staple in the fitness industry, this market includes not only full scale 24/7 gyms and health clubs, but also smaller, more selective studios such as personal training studios, womens only fitness centers, mens only fitness centers, senior fitness centers and any membership driven fitness facility. Typical Contact Person – The Owner.

Martial Arts Schools

This includes the various disciplines of martial arts training studios, mixed martial arts facilities and boxing gyms and schools. Typical Contact Person – The Owner.

Medical

This includes hospitals, physical therapy clinics, rehabilitation centers, wellness centers and chiropractic offices. Typical Contact Person – The Head of the Wellness Center or the Head of Human Resources for a hospital, the Owner for privately owned practices.

Military Bases and Institutions

This includes all branches of the military. Typical Contact Person – The Purchasing Agent.

Multi-Housing Facilities

These include apartment complexes, hotels, motels, senior living centers, condo associations and other temporary or permanent resident housing structures. Typical Contact Person – The Owner of the Complex or the Purchasing Agent for the Development Group that owns the complex.

National Accounts

A national account is one that uses our fitness equipment is many or all of their locations throughout the United States. These can be large health club chains, franchises that use the same equipment in all of their chains or a spin-off of a business that wants to diversify into other areas by adding fitness equipment to their general offering. Typical Contact Person – This depends upon the type of national account. Refer to the other categories listed in this section and contact the person in the position that fits your specific national account.

Organizations

Country clubs, the Y, YJCC and other organizations both for profit and non-profit have fitness centers for their members. Typical Contact Person – The Executive Director.

Police and Fire Departments- First responders often have fitness equipment rooms to use as part of their general training regimen. This includes police at all levels (local, state, federal). Fire departments are often allocated government funding that can be used for the purchase of fitness equipment. Volunteer fire departments also use fitness equipment. Police and fire training academies will mandate fitness equipment for their fitness assessment testing. Typical Contact Person – The Purchasing Agent.

Professional Sports Teams

Athletes of all kinds use fitness equipment as an important ingredient of their overall training regimen to improve their overall performance in their specific sport. Typical Contact Person – The Purchasing Agent.

Schools

Middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. High schools will often have separate weight / fitness rooms for their athletic teams and for their physical education classes. Universities will often have separate fitness rooms for their athletes and for their general student body. Typical Contact Person – The Athletic Director, Head Football Coach, Strength Coach, or the Head of the Physical Education Department, depending upon what the fitness equipment will be used for.

Sports Performance Training Centers

Specializing in training athletes to enhance their athletic prowess in various disciplines, sports performance training centers are either multi-sport oriented or specific to an individual or just a few sports. Typical Contact Person – The Owner.