Triangle attracting fancier health clubs

A few years ago, Life Time Fitness in Cary would have been unique.

At 110,000 square feet, it's twice the size of a big grocery store. There are climbing walls, a cafe and a child-care center. It has two basketball courts and several pools, both indoor and outdoor.

But now massive health clubs with lots of amenities are the norm. That's because the Triangle is seeing more high-end gyms, with chains such as Gold's Gym, O2 Fitness and Life Time opening several locations.

As the industry enters its busiest time of the year -- think resolutions -- competition is forcing club owners to work harder to attract members.

That's fine news for customers, who benefit from more flexible contracts and pricing, better services and proximity.

"It's just part of the evolution of fitness," said Geoffrey Dyer, founder of Florida's Lifestyle Family Fitness, which opened three Triangle locations this year. "State-of-the-art equipment 25 years ago was a bike. Now a member has 100 types of cardio equipment to chose from."

Belonging to a gym can easily cost $40, $50 or even $100 a month. Most chains are running year-end specials, including one promoting $99 for a year.

But the more personal-training sessions and tanning services you want, the more you're going to pay.

Still, gyms seem to be adopting Burger King's "Have it Your Way" customization philosophy.

At Gold's Gym in Raleigh's Pleasant Valley Promenade shopping center, a renovation this year added a children's club, basketball court and the same line of weight-lifting equipment the National Football League uses.

But members aren't facing an all-or-none decision. "You can join starting at $37, and then if you need your kids to be looked after, tanning, training, you can be paying upwards of $90 a month," said Daniel Summers, a fitness consultant for Gold's.

Some companies are dumping the traditional requirement of long-term contracts, allowing gym members to walk out any time.

Because customers have so many option, gym operators must pay attention to the details, said Kevin Hedley, chief operating officer of Raleigh-based O2 Fitness, which opened its fifth Triangle location last month.

"It means the clubs that are left have to do a really good job with their members in order to keep them," he said.

Hedley said members have begun to value convenience and amenities more than low prices.

"Typically people will only drive to a health club that's within a 5-mile radius or a 12-minute drive" from their homes, he said. "The people we're going after live in nice houses, drive nice cars. There's no reason their health club shouldn't match those standards."

Krystal Anderson, 38, of Raleigh has belonged to a gym for most of her adult life. She switched to O2 two years ago.

The Raleigh mother said cleanliness, convenience and special amenities such as day care for her son make an upscale gym a no-brainer.

"When you work out in a nice place, it's hard to go back" to a gym that doesn't measure up, she said. "I don't want to be a gym snob. But it kind of feels that way."

Investing in iron

Competing in today's market requires more than buying equipment, signing a lease and opening the doors.

Owners have to make substantial investments to build new gyms and update the ones they already operate.

"As a company, we'll generate over $100 million this year in revenues, and $8 million will be reinvested into existing clubs," said Dyer of Lifestyle Family Fitness. "It goes with the program."

The large companies moving into the region often are on better financial footing than some smaller companies that have come and gone in the Triangle over the past few years.

Life Time, for example, is publicly traded and reported net income of $18.4 million in its last quarter, up 34.5 percent from a year earlier.

Gyms that make million-dollar investments in their facilities are a lot less likely to shut down suddenly, O2's Hedley said.

"You've got to be in it for the long haul," he said. "If you sign long-term leases, you make a commitment to the landlord and the members that you'll be here for a long time."

Room for all rivals?

Despite deep pockets and the booming population of high-income Triangle residents, there are questions about whether there's enough business for all of the area gyms to survive, especially as household budgets are getting tighter.

Company officials say there is plenty of demand locally despite the influx of new competition.

"If anything is true, it's that still today, only 15 percent of the population has a membership," Life Time Fitness spokesman Jason Thunstrom said.

Competitors are marketing aggressively to get a piece of the traditional membership bump that happens at the beginning of each year -- as much as 25 percent more than in November and December.

"Everybody in this business discounts this time of the year," Hedley said. "The easier you can make it this time of year, the easier it is to get the people who aren't sure if they're going to make a long-term commitment. ... It's just getting the message out there."