Membership-Based Facial, Gym Chains Cater To Masses

“Two new retailers are expanding into the local market by billing themselves as ‘recession proof’ and offering their luxury services to the masses. Both Faces365 and Planet Fitness offer membership-based services at lower costs than traditional spas and health clubs. With Faces365, the father-and-son team of Freddy and Lance O’Pry, who also own the 25-clinic Massage Envy franchise in Houston — is now bringing a new concept to the area that has an almost identical business model to Massage Envy, but with facials. Roseville, Calif.-based Faces365 will offer discounted services and extended hours on a seven-days-a-week schedule. For example, an introductory 70-minute facial will cost $49.99. Then members pay $49.99 a month, which can be used for a facial or can be applied toward other services. Meanwhile, energy trader Jon Evans is teaming up with Scott Sanders, a private equity and restructuring specialist, to bring a similar model to the masses, but for fitness gyms. The first 15,000-square-foot Planet Fitness has opened at the northwest corner of Grant Road and Louetta Road in Cypress, and offers memberships costing from $10 to $19.99 per month. The gym features more than 70 pieces of cardio equipment and a PF Express 30-minute workout room. Planet Fitness is able to offer the lower prices because the gym doesn’t offer ‘extras’ such as childcare services, yoga or exercise classes. Evans says a second and third Planet Fitness club are already in the works and are scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2009. The New Hampshire-based company caters to first-time and occasional gym users who are attracted to the low price as well as the low-pressure atmosphere. ‘We don’t have salespeople or a large number of bodybuilders as members, so people can come in and get a good workout without having to worry about being hassled,’ Evans says. With more than 250 clubs in 29 states and 1.1 million members, Planet Fitness is known as a low-cost/high-value gym operator. The gym has lots of company. As of January, there were 29,636 health clubs with more than 41 million members in the United States, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. Kara Thompson, a spokeswoman with the IHRSA, says the number of gym memberships in the U.S. fell about 3 percent from 2006 to 2007. But industry revenue has increased during that same period, indicating that members are putting their money toward extras like massages and personal trainers. ‘Every member has their own individual needs,’ Thompson says. ‘Some are willing to pay for the extra advantages.’”

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2008/12/01/story6.html?b=1228107600^1740465