Need your help - New gym in the Ham

[DRep]

Look at Spire Climbing Center in Bozeman, Mt. Rad little gym with about half the membership base coming from Montana State University students. They know how to do business!

[irregularpanda]

Do it!

 

Be prepared to lose money for the first year or 3, but it's all in the start. This can be very valuable for a community.

 

Here's the deal: soccer moms bring birthday parties to the gym, charge them more for 2 hours.

 

Also, family memberships work too, lotsa dough

 

And, these college kid arguments, I went to evergreen (olympia WA, it's a tiny town) which also has a free gym for the college. The gym downtown had plenty of business from the college kids. These kids are loaded, and they will be for a long time.

 

GIVE US A GYM.

[Tennessee]

Don't forget about getting traffic from Canada. Gyms in the Vancouver area charge outrageous fees and are absolutely packed. Abbotsford, White Rock would likely provide climbers to a *good gym* in B'ham as they do skiers to Mt Baker.

 

Another idea to add to a gym's revenue might be to have yoga classes. I've often thought a small laundromat in a gym might be a good draw for students too (?) who knows.

 

I agree, I think it would be hard to pull off and you'd have to have deep pockets to survive a few lean years. But when our waterfront gets developed in the next 10 years, we might have the populations to make it viable.

 

One more idea for extra revenue might be to approach the local guide service(s). On rainy days, a gym would provide a good place for instruction when these classes would otherwise be held outside under a campground shelter.

 

 

[thestidham]

Hey MoonRover, I met you earlier this year and I would love to assist you with your new gym effort. bham is long overdue for a legit climbing gym and honestly I'm surprised that vertical world hasn't laid stakes on it yet. There are two climbing opportunities in bham but like many others have stated, there both crap. There are many college students who climb @ WWU, but only because that's their only option. And the Y is good for running laps on the big wall but other than that both the walls and the route setting sucks at both. I've worked at Edgeworks in Tacoma as a route setter and have climbed at many gyms across the country, and the most important thing to focus on in a new gym is wall design (best use of area, and varying this area to best suit your clients needs), hold selection, route setting, and location. Of course there are other factors involved, but these are most important in my opinion as they are the product your are selling to your clients. I would love to stay in the loop about how things are progressing so please keep us up to date. Cheers.

 

Sean