LA Fitness muscles into market…A new player in town.

LA Fitness muscles into strong Brevard marketLindsay MacDonald left Pro-Health and Fitness Center for Planet Fitness about a year-and-a-half ago.

“Pro-Health was getting too expensive, it was $55 a month,” the 24-year-old radiation therapy student at Keiser University said of the health facilities offered by Health First.

But later this year, MacDonald will have another fitness option — Irvine, Calif.-based LA Fitness will be moving into the former Albertson’s at Lake Washington Square.

“It seems like they have everything that Pro-Health has for a lot cheaper,” MacDonald added. “I’m excited, I can’t wait for it to open, I wish it would open sooner.”

MacDonald isn’t alone, as LA Fitness is racking up dozens of new members as part of its first foray into Brevard County.

Whether it’s new attention to staying fit and healthy, or a rebounding economy, the local health club business is getting in shape with clubs and gyms looking for new members and, like behemoths LA Fitness — one of the nation’s largest fitness chains — doing what it can to lure members away from the facilities they belong to now.

One might assume staffers responsible for keeping up enrollment numbers are sweating right alongside their members.

But managers from established health care facilities on the Space Coast are stressing their different programs and equipment, and varied hours, to emphasize the flexibility toward their clientele. Bottom line, they’re not showing any concern about increased competition, and in some cases, they’re even welcoming it.

“Some people just want to do classes, and LA Fitness will be perfect for them,” said Patricia Villarreal, manager of Planet Fitness in Melbourne. “We have Pro-Health close to us also, there are people for Pro- Health, people for Planet Fitness, people for LA Fitness, people for yoga studios.”

Getting more muscular

U.S. health club industry revenue reached $21.8 billion in 2012, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), and memberships at health clubs boomed the past 10 years, up to 51.3 million this year from 39.4 million in 2003.

In Brevard, that meant the entrance of places like In-2-Fitness and The Ten Minute Gym quickly popping up and, almost just as quickly, shutting down when the economy slowed and people began looking to reduce monthly expenses by eating out less frequently and canceling gym memberships.

Those that survived earned somewhat of a loyal customer base.

Gym members tend to find facilities that cater to their personal needs. An ongoing customer loyalty study by Boston-based IHRSA shows that for every 100 gym members in North America, there are 43 people more likely to recommend their facility than not.

In Brevard, the major operators have been Health First’s four Pro-Health & Fitness Centers, the three YMCAs, five Anytime Fitness locations and four Planet Fitness locations. Those don’t include dozens of mostly smaller independently operated gyms that cater to more specialized customers. CrossFit affiliates, for example, have blossomed in the county from one in 2007 to 10 this year.

A new player in town

LA Fitness is banking on variety and value to succeed.

Founded in 1984, the California fitness company is considered one of the fastest growing health club chains in the United States and currently has more than 580 locations in 24 states and Canada. The company says its mission is to “help as many people as possible achieve the benefits of a healthy lifestyle by creating a nationwide network of health clubs, offering its members the widest range of amenities and the friendliest service at an affordable price.”

“The value proposition offered by LA Fitness — all the different activities, generous quantity of first-class equipment and classes are our trademark and attraction to our members,” said William Homer, the fitness company’s vice president.

Its first Brevard location is beneficial to both LA Fitness, as it expands into new markets, and also the City of Melbourne, which no longer will have a huge, vacant eyesore. Albertson’s closed its 38,000-square-foot center in June 2010, and developers say once a big retailer leaves, it affects the other tenants.Let’s face it, that plaza is a ghost town right now,” said Mike Konowitz, general manager of the LA Fitness in Melbourne. “So a big fitness center comes in and creates foot traffic.”

LA Fitness’ Melbourne location is set to open in December. It’s boasting a three-lane swimming pool, full-size basketball court, large room for classes, spin room, juice bar, kids’ club and areas for the standard free weights, cardio equipment and circuit training.

Homer said LA Fitness selected the Lake Washington Square site because of a heavy traffic count of about 57,000 vehicles per day and because of the demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods.

“It’s an area with a technology emphasis with higher-educated people, and they’re more into physical exercise,” he said.

The gym started taking registrations on May 16, offering discounted rates to those who come to the tent or into the company’s preview center across the street near Publix.

“What separates us from the rest of the market is our variety of fitness programs,” Konowitz said. “People have a lot to look forward to every time they come to the gym.”

Regular memberships, according to the corporate website, are listed as $34.99 a month, with no long-term commitment, plus an initial $75 enrollment fee.

Michael Mitchell, 27, lives nearby and is a member of Planet Fitness. He stopped to inquire at the LA Fitness tent set up at the construction site.

“LA Fitness has a nice appearance, a nice ambiance, and inside they have a structured facility. You can play basketball, you can swim, you have aerobics, you have kickboxing, you have personal trainers — a variety and assortment that is different than a lot of corporations,” said Mitchell, who worked out once at the LA Fitness in Oviedo.

Homer confirmed LA Fitness is looking to open more locations in Brevard in coming years, but did not specify where.

Ready to compete

Poised to feel an impact — with members at least shopping around — are Planet Fitness on North Apollo Boulevard, which professes a different business model and says it caters to a different segment of the population, and those fitness centers closest in proximity and with comparable amenities to the new LA Fitness — the Suntree YMCA and Pro-Health & Fitness Center in Viera.

Most say they are ready.

“We are not worried about it. LA Fitness is going to offer to their members something completely different than what we offer,” Villarreal said about Planet Fitness. “Our prices are very low, $10 a month…definitely everybody likes to pay less.”

Villarreal said the population on the Space Coast can support the addition of more fitness centers.

Still Planet Fitness isn’t banking on price alone to retain its membership base. It touts a company-wide program to show customer appreciation by serving pizza one night a month and bagels one morning a month.

Representatives from Pro-Health, which is part of the Rockledge-based Health First medical group, declined to comment about LA Fitness. But on its website, Pro-Health is advertising a promotional coupon waiving the $100 enrollment fee for new members through August.

For its part, the YMCA is stressing a family-friendly philosophy.

Whereas LA Fitness limits use of the facility to 14 years and older, the Suntree YMCA, a 5-mile jog north on Wickham Road, has offerings for the entire family, starting with classes for babies as young as 6 months.

“We’re obviously aware of it,” Joe Rowlette, operations director at the Suntree YMCA, said about LA Fitness. “The ‘Y’ looks at it like we don’t have any enemies, we only have friends in the community. How can we use this to better ourselves or even use this to make more friends in the community?”

Rowlette said the YMCA, which has three locations in Brevard, is different than LA Fitness or Planet Fitness in many ways, citing programs inclusive to families, kids classes and uniquely that it does not turn anyone away. Standard memberships start at $55 for individual and $77 for family, both with additional joiner’s fee, but the scholarship program subsidizes memberships based on income level.

“Our outreach programs, we welcome people even though they can’t afford it,” Rowlette said. “We get people in regardless of income, age or background. No one is ever turned away.”

Customer choice

In general, gym customers say they are attracted by low prices, but ultimately want diversity and value.

“I chose LA Fitness because they have more of a variety than a lot of the other gyms around here and it seems like it’s going to be a lot more of a value,” said MacDonald, who lives around the corner from the new LA Fitness site.

“Lately I’ve just been into fitness because I’m trying to better my lifestyle… I don’t really want to be out of shape and in the medical field.”

Mitchell, who stays fit with gymnastics and martial arts, said in his experience, the people who work at LA Fitness impressed him as much as the appearance of the center.

“They have better personal training, they’re not just meatheads,” he said. “They actually know physiology.”