January is a busy time of year for gym chains, with thousands signing up to fulfil New Year’s resolution obligations. However, this boom tends to tail off around the middle of February as the pressures of daily life push finding time to go to the gym down the list of priorities for many new members.
It is perhaps surprising, then, that JD Sports has announced its intention to roll out a number of gyms across the UK to coincide with the annual slump. The sportswear chain will open its first fitness club in Hull next month, with a view to opening in other cities throughout the country as the year progresses.
Hull’s JD Sports gym will measure around 21,000 square feet and will contain state of the art equipment in order to help members achieve their fitness goals. This standard will be maintained across all new openings under the JD Gyms brand according to managing director Alan Peacock.
He continued; “We are investing £1 million in the site and when you make that kind of investment you are committing to that project.
“We also have a couple of other sites under offer in other big cities but those are deals we are working on at the moment.”
The UK fitness market has become increasingly competitive in recent years, with low cost options such as Fitness First often pushing more established brands out of the market in certain areas of the country. However, while some have struggled to increase profit margins and have been forced to rejuvenate their brand and properties as a result, the growing popularity of classes such as tabata and Zumba has allowed the majority to thrive in a tough environment.
At present, around 12.6 per cent of the UK population are registered members of a health club or gym after the market climbed by 0.5 per cent in 2013. Furthermore, as the economic forecast continues to improve and household disposable income steadily rises, economists predict that this figure will increase further.
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