Gym Showers (business related topic)

ColoradoGuy

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> These could also work for your ladies lockerroom since they can be outfitted with
> removable shower curtains.

Are you kidding me ? Women *have* to soap each other up in the showers, touch each other's nipples to compare firmness. Having a divider would prevent this essential activity all women do in the locker room shower (based on all the movies I have seen :)

LOL. I've seen the same movies.

This is really useful info - thanks so much :)

You're welcome... I hope it works out. In the end, we couldn't get our numbers to work (wildly optimistic assumptions from the franchiser), but I really wanted it to. The idea of owning a gym has always appealed to me. I hope yours is a success, jerkitout.

^ THIS.

If you're about to invest both your money and time, or some investors money, into this gym idea of yours, I sincerely hope you'll do the necessary research in the area. You need to create a focus group, it's quite easy. Either you can put out ads, searching for volunteers, and maybe offer a small compensation for their time. Or you could try and "pick" the people you want in your focus group, and thereby you have the power to pick a group that would better represent the people within the area you're thinking about opening the gym. Based on the answers from this focus group, you'll know what to do next.

A decision about opening a new business can't be made from asking a simple question on an internet-forum, atleast not solely from that. To research on the internet is good as well, but you need more information regarding the specific area you're about to invest in. :smile:

HappyBoi
makes a very good point. You need to find a representative cross-section of your target market and find out what they want, what would make them join your gym, why they've not joined a gym before or if they have, why they've left it or stuck with it, etc.

I did a focus group (of sorts) with foot traffic that came through the strip mall I was considering locating my gym in and got some great feedback. I spent three consecutive Saturdays in front of the grocery store there (with permission) and had a sign that said "Donate MY $10 to YOUR favorite charity!". It worked; everybody was curious about it and I had enlisted my neighbor's daughter to sort of pitch the interview and qualify people. For people who met my basic criteria (over 18, employed, lived in a three-mile radius and would answer 15 questions), I gave them $10 and told them they could keep it or donate it to their favorite charity. Then, we sat down at my little card table and I went through my questions with them. With the exception of a few people, I think I got a lot more than $10 of information from them. In some cases, people gave me their contact details so I could email them if I went through with the gym.

Two of the gems I learned: people would pay extra for towel service and the universally most important thing for a gym was 'cleanliness'. All in all, I think I interviewed something like 85 people and it was probably the very best market research I could have done. Don't be afraid to spend money to ensure you have a good idea. Think of it as investing a few hundred dollars now to prevent losing tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars later.

Good luck.
 

zb0y

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Ya man I donno I would just pay the penny and go with the private showers... like this 2011 you need to toss down the dollars to makee the chedda
 

lasolasbud

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I really don’t care what type of shower is available at a gym but I do care about cleanliness, water pressure and temperature. I belong to Ballys and there is black mold growing on the walls. The water temperature fluctuates between very hot and cold. Both problems are an easy fix but Ballys doesn’t give a shit about its members once they have your money. I value quality over luxury; keep it simple and keep it clean.
 

B_debonair87

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private showers are the way to go.

i don't want people seeing me soap up and rinse my ass crack. some things are just left to be done in private. plus all that bacteria and germs all around of everyone else showering. gross