Slimmed-Down Gyms Cut Costs
Exercise can help battle stress, but many consumers are rethinking their gym memberships in hopes of trimming costs.
That in part is helping to fuel a growing niche in the health-club industry — self-service gyms that never close.
While typically smaller than their full-service competitors, these gyms offer fewer amenities, cheaper prices and 24-hour access, though it could mean a member works out alone.
In 2008, Jamie Darr joined a Snap Gym in Millersville, Md., after switching from a bigger gym. The gym, part of a growing franchise with treadmills and weight machines, is in a shopping plaza and provides magnetic-key access around the clock. Darr pays $35 a month, about half as much as her previous membership.
“It had a lot of things I didn’t use: pools, a basketball court,” she says of her old club.
So when Darr was laid off from her job as a mortgage loan processor in July, she kept the Snap membership because exercise helped her stay calm. Had she belonged to a more expensive club, she would have quit, she says.
While many larger health clubs have been hurt by the economic crisis, small streamlined gyms are expanding across the country. The clubs are adding new members nationwide, many of them trying to save money.
The clubs are also significantly smaller, typically between 2,000 and 4,000 square feet. “Big-box” clubs run from 10,000 to 50,000 square feet. The 24/7 clubs usually have on-site staff for six or eight hours a day; the rest of the time, members are on their own. Continue reading.
Photo: Chiaki Kawajiri / The Baltimore Sun.
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