Clean with well maintained equipment would be what I would be looking for as a customer rather than the latest gizmos.
Keeping in shape doesn't actually require all that much fancy stuff and keeping the costs under control is important.
As for bringing in new revenue/members; offer incentives to your existing customers for bringing in new folks.

Filtered water dispenser

Hand towels

Towels for showers

Some sort of energy or snack bars (have bonked at the gym a couple times and needed quick carbs).

Cleanliness!!

Staff in clearly marked livery.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Aside from the aforementioned, I would recommend getting very good at selling supplements.
Most are useless at best, but there is a shitload of money to be made.

My buddy manages a 100,000 sq ft gym and states unequivocably that Amazon and other on-line retailers rule this market. Individual gyms end up with both sunk cost on the supplements and space not paying its share of the rent. A fridge with individual use protein shakes, BCAAs, water, and electrolytes plus a small rack of individual bars is all he says makes money.

FRIENDLY staff who are not constantly on their cellphones.

Clean well maintaned equipment. Have a cleaning crew always on the move.

Secured locker space.

Security cameras in the parking lot.

Signs in the heavy weight lifting area: "No dropping of weights".

Cater to the older members - Most health plans give free fitness for Seniors thru Silver Sneakers and Silver and Fit.

this is why i love SF, so much smarts n one place

1. Lots of Liability insurance.
a. Interior and exterior cameras to preclude false liability claims.
b. Properly trained staff for same reason.

2. AED and staff trained to use it.

3. Staff trained in CPR and first aid.

4. Background checks on all staff. Perverts love gyms.

I looked at the web page and would love to take the class called intro to foam rolling.

I keep trying to use them but just have not gotten the technique right.

Good classes.
I like the 24/7hrs especially with my work schedule.

Depends on the clientele and space limitations but a play area and someone to watch small children is one thing to consider, either free or at a small cost. Both parents can work out together if they like plus if just one uses the gym the other doesn’t have to watch the kids while they do so.

lots of good suggestions so far. clean is a BIG one. no desire to get MRSA just trying to stay healthy

child care another big potential plus - probably can only add that option for select hours per day

i am laughing at some of the comments because we have all seen 'that guy'

my pet peeve - I'm sure a lot of others - is the 'take over the equipment guy' when he is not actively using it. like he grabs some 45 lb dumbbells and takes them to a bench and disappears. you wait 5 mins no sign of the guy. you grab the dumbbells and he magically appears - 'hey I was using those'... no you weren't - then the pissing contest begins and the 'wolf stares' lol

I would second having a couple of heavy bags for boxing-style cardio

I would rather there be 6 treadmills and 6 ellipticals than 2 treadmills, 2 ellipticals, 2 stairmasters, 2 bikes, etc... Why? because when I show up I want to know there is a higher likelihood a piece of equipment is available vs. a different situation each time 'luck of the draw style' you give up some variety but its nice going in to be able to plan the workout.

more squat racks than you think you need - there is always someone doing arm curls in one rack... nice to have several...

lots of dumbbells lots of standalone benches

i like it when there is an 'extra room' where you can go to stretch, do plyometrics, cool down etc vs just laying down on a random floorspace in the main gym area

you could probably make decent $$ selling healthy smoothies and recovery shakes

classes- my wife loves classes. I'm not a classes guy but I would think you NEED to have like 3 varieties - a slow, medium and hard version

lastly - a guy a knew did very well with SENIORS like 830-10am (the early working crew was gone and the daily lunch crowd was not in yet) the gym was 'Senior Time' where he catered to older folks it was actually kinda cool to see 65-85 year olds in there lifting weights light weights - but all the same strength training has been found to be highly beneficial for older folks and being able to walk them through the proper lifts was cool to see

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I am surprised there are no pictures of the gym on the website. Did I miss that link?

Rule One. KEEP IT CLEAN. Meaning that you have cleaning staff working the hours the business is closed to insure that NO customer EVER walks in to find dirty floors or equipment. This means that the floors in the Cardio area are mopped every day without fail.

Rule Two. Make sure that someone is assigned to do hourly checks on the Cleaning Stations to insure that they are NEVER EVER out of fluids or paper.

Don't even think about trying to save a few bucks on the Cardio Machines. The top grade machines cost a bunch of money because they are designed to be flogged for many years before needing to be serviced. Personally I prefer Life Fitness gear simply because IMO they make the Elliptical Trainer with the smoothest stride. Note, make sure that any machine purchased has cup holders that will actually work for the most common water flasks and bottles.

Hours. IMO any gym that isn't open at 5:00 AM is a gym that won't survive long term. Because most who do daily workouts prefer to do it early in the morning before work so that they have their evening free. If you want to capture this segment you will have to be open to do that.

Finally post notices in prominent areas around the weight training machines that these machines are intended to be used for EXERCISE. They are not Seats for those wishing to spend their time texting. Yeah I hate waiting to get on a machine because someone thinks the machine he is occupying was provided as a seat for his use when he wanted to do some texting.

Biggest thing for me is keep the equipment functioning. Bonus items for me are lots of tvs on closed captioning and a variety of channels in front of cardio machines. I really liked one place that had a real wood sauna with rocks to throw water on, but they are probably not clean.

If you're charging a premium, you better make sure the place and equipment are premium. Nothing like paying premium and getting to use economy class equipment and spotty carpetting/facilities.

Concept 2 Rowers.

Most of my peeves have been addressed. Biggest one I haven’t seen is trying to do something about the perfume/cologne/body spray overuse. Sometimes it’s hard to breathe when people use half a bottle of that crap. It’s also a migraine trigger for lots of people.

I forgot to add, post signs all around "NO SCREAMERS".

Even with headphones on, and I'm across the gym it annoys the shit out of me to hear a guy doing "look at me" screams during reps.

SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.