Climbing Gym

[alex44]

I am considering moving to Lexington and opening a large commercial gym. In short, I am curious as to how large the climbing community is around the area.

[pigsteak]

here we go again....

[KD]

Saxman already opened one - it wouldn't be a good idea to move in on him and such a small market anyway. would be a bad idea really. you should probably think about opening one someplace else.

[climb2core]

I am considering moving to Lexington and opening a large commercial gym. In short, I am curious as to how large the climbing community is around the area.

Really, this your market research? That is awesome. There 19.6 thousand climbers in the greater Lexington area. 32.6% are dissatisfied with the current gym. A new larger commercial enterprise would expect to capitalize on 40.6% of the current market. Expected profit margin would be 22.3% with a return on investment of $123,420 by year 3.

[pigsteak]

ok, I'll start. a large commercial gym would be wonderful, and you would have support. good luck finding a building with tall enough clearance that you are able to afford.

[DriskellHR]

Not to mention a large climbing gym in this market would flounder. Not enough money in climbing to sustain a super large gym so close to the red. we ran the numbers and demographics for louisville last year. I kicked around the idea of turning an old grain silo into a 160 ft climbing gym but the numbers were way up there ($250,000-$300,000 for start up) plus more for demo that our particular site required. Long story short the numbers were not fiscally sound therefore we tabled the idea. give it another 5 yrs.... thats my plan to revisit the idea.

[dustonian]

It will do fine if you have some business sense, especially if combined with a fitness center that attracts non-climbers... weights, yoga, fitness, cafe, pool, jacuzzi, and so on... Lexington is super light on these things too. The Touchstone and Planet Granite franchises in the Bay area, and the Miramont gyms in Fort Collins are great examples of this successful model (http://www.miramontlifestyle.com/climbingwall/ .... Fort Collins' population is 1/2 that of Lexington and it has two climbing gyms plus three major fitness centers... the year-round climate is nicer than here, and they are even closer to good climbing than we are).

There is an abandoned grocery store building for rent on Broadway and Red Mile, put it there. Hope you have a good investor on your side... a Miramont franchise would be the shit here.

[dssclimb]

Here we go again indeed. New large gym opens and puts old small gym out of business. New large gym goes out of business because overhead was to high and was destined to failure. Back to climbing on woodies in garages. Deja vu?

[dustonian]

From what I understand anyway, that "big gym" was mismanaged and done in by embezzlement. Plus they didn't really offer anything except rock climbing, which is certain death to an expensive facility in any city. The real estate in that particular location is ridiculously overpriced for Lexington.

[KD]

and Saxman is a good guy and this would end up messing things up so don't do it. would be a dumb thing to do. don't do dumb things.