Everlast Gyms prepares for global expansion with 37,000sq ft flagship 'showroom' location
POSTED 17 Nov 2023 . BY Liz Terry
The new Everlast Gateshead covers 37,000sq ft Credit: Everlast Gyms
Credit: Everlast Gyms
The gym is completely open-plan and big enough to house everything we do. I don't think there's anything like it in the UK – Dan Summerson, MD Everlast Gyms
Everlast Gyms, part of Frasers Group, has launched its flagship property in Gateshead UK
The club will function as a full-blown gym, while also acting as a 'showroom of concepts' for global joint venture partners
Everlast plans to expand internationally via joint ventures, using the op co/prop co model
MD, Dan Summerson is interviewed in the upcoming edition of HCM magazine
Everlast Gyms today (16 November) opened a new flagship property at the Metro Centre in Gateshead UK as part of a strategy to globalise the brand.
The 37,000sq ft health club occupies a former Debenhams department store.
Speaking exclusively to HCM magazine for a profile interview in the next edition, Everlast MD, Dan Summerson, said the Gateshead location will have a dual function, trading as a full service health club with up to 12,000 members, while also acting as a 'showroom' for Everlast's suite of fitness concepts, to enable joint venture partners to select elements to incorporate into their own health club developments.
With its retail connections through parent company Fraser’s Group, Everlast anticipates working with JV retail partners and other property investors via licences and franchises.
"We're gearing up for global expansion using the op co/prop co model – similar to the way hotels operate," said Summerson. "Although we have a portfolio of our own clubs in the UK, we don't want to build and operate overseas, so plan to do this through partnerships.
"Because we're part of retail giant, Frasers Group, we have the opportunity to develop the Everlast Gyms brand globally through our JV partnerships," says Summerson. "We expect our partners to visit Gateshead to view all our concepts under one roof."
The Gatehead club has a gym upstairs and large Sports Direct – another Frasers brand – downstairs, with the two being connected by an escalator, enabling cross-marketing.
"The gym is completely open-plan," says Summerson, "and big enough to house everything we do, including all the boutique elements and the big box elements – I don't think there's anything like it in the UK"
Club elements include weights and resistance and cardio areas, functional training offerings, a boxing ring, group cycling, Olympic platforms and a range of studio and wellness offerings, including ice baths, a coffee and shake bar and a barber. There's also full Myzone integration, while a bridge leads straight from the gym to the car park. Equipment is by Core Health and Fitness.
"We've created three different models in our JV 'menu'" says Summerson. "One's around 15,000sq ft, one's around 20,000sq ft and the other 25,000sq ft, with three different cost bases and three different expected EBITDAs. We wanted to create options and now we're ready to start implementing our global JV plan."
Sign up now to receive you personal copy of HCM's upcoming exclusive interview with Dan Summerson here.
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Everlast Gyms prepares for global expansion with 37,000sq ft flagship 'showroom' location
POSTED 17 Nov 2023 . BY Liz Terry
The new Everlast Gateshead covers 37,000sq ft Credit: Everlast Gyms
Credit: Everlast Gyms
The gym is completely open-plan and big enough to house everything we do. I don't think there's anything like it in the UK – Dan Summerson, MD Everlast Gyms
Everlast Gyms, part of Frasers Group, has launched its flagship property in Gateshead UK
The club will function as a full-blown gym, while also acting as a 'showroom of concepts' for global joint venture partners
Everlast plans to expand internationally via joint ventures, using the op co/prop co model
MD, Dan Summerson is interviewed in the upcoming edition of HCM magazine
Everlast Gyms today (16 November) opened a new flagship property at the Metro Centre in Gateshead UK as part of a strategy to globalise the brand.
The 37,000sq ft health club occupies a former Debenhams department store.
Speaking exclusively to HCM magazine for a profile interview in the next edition, Everlast MD, Dan Summerson, said the Gateshead location will have a dual function, trading as a full service health club with up to 12,000 members, while also acting as a 'showroom' for Everlast's suite of fitness concepts, to enable joint venture partners to select elements to incorporate into their own health club developments.
With its retail connections through parent company Fraser’s Group, Everlast anticipates working with JV retail partners and other property investors via licences and franchises.
"We're gearing up for global expansion using the op co/prop co model – similar to the way hotels operate," said Summerson. "Although we have a portfolio of our own clubs in the UK, we don't want to build and operate overseas, so plan to do this through partnerships.
"Because we're part of retail giant, Frasers Group, we have the opportunity to develop the Everlast Gyms brand globally through our JV partnerships," says Summerson. "We expect our partners to visit Gateshead to view all our concepts under one roof."
The Gatehead club has a gym upstairs and large Sports Direct – another Frasers brand – downstairs, with the two being connected by an escalator, enabling cross-marketing.
"The gym is completely open-plan," says Summerson, "and big enough to house everything we do, including all the boutique elements and the big box elements – I don't think there's anything like it in the UK"
Club elements include weights and resistance and cardio areas, functional training offerings, a boxing ring, group cycling, Olympic platforms and a range of studio and wellness offerings, including ice baths, a coffee and shake bar and a barber. There's also full Myzone integration, while a bridge leads straight from the gym to the car park. Equipment is by Core Health and Fitness.
"We've created three different models in our JV 'menu'" says Summerson. "One's around 15,000sq ft, one's around 20,000sq ft and the other 25,000sq ft, with three different cost bases and three different expected EBITDAs. We wanted to create options and now we're ready to start implementing our global JV plan."
Sign up now to receive you personal copy of HCM's upcoming exclusive interview with Dan Summerson here.
RELATED STORIES
FEATURE: Everyone's talking about: Vintage brands POSTED 09 Mar 2023. The industry is reinventing ‘love brands’ to unlock new growth opportunities, as Kath Hudson discovered
FEATURE: Interview: Dan Summerson POSTED 06 Jul 2022. The MD of Everlast Gyms is steering the business through a process of rebranding, with a hybrid model intended to take it to UK number one status
Sector leaders in the UK have collaborated to create the Physical Activity Leadership
Network that
aims to raise physical activity levels, address inequalities and create an Active Wellbeing
Service.
Female health expert, The Well HQ has teamed up with training provider, The Fitness Group, to
launch education courses aimed at upskilling PTs in female health.
Fitness-focused hospitality brand and management company Equinox Hotels has announced
plans to open a modern new resort on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba in northwest Saudi Arabia.
The venture is part of the ambitious US$500 billion (€462.7 billion, £396 billion) Neom* giga-
project.
UK Active has unveiled the finalists for the UK Active Awards 2024. Winners from across the 14
categories will be announced at a ceremony at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham
on 3 October.
US health and fitness giant, Planet Fitness, has today (22 July) officially announced the launch of its first Spanish
club in the Via Sabadell shopping centre in Barcelona.
Altrafit has taken further steps to cement its reputation as a provider of high-quality,
affordable functional fitness equipment that is built to last with the development and
introduction of a new functional fitness keg for luxury gym operator, Third Space. [more...]
In today's rapidly evolving fitness industry, where many online courses promise secret
formulas for entrepreneurial success, the reality is that few provide the necessary
knowledge to thrive in this fast-changing profession. [more...]