Are There Too Many Fitness Centers In Rochester?

“With 25 to 30 places to work out in Rochester, you don't have to go far to keep that New Year's resolution. But no matter how much pie you ate during the holidays, is there enough pie to keep everyone from the new WorkOut World and USA Fitness Center to the Rochester Area Family Y, Northgate Health Club, Rochester Athletic Club and others from getting hungry? Maybe, maybe not. ‘I believe we have gone beyond the saturation point for Rochester,’ says Greg Lappin, general manager of the Rochester Athletic Club. He has 35 years experience in the industry. ‘If you add up all we have (in Rochester), we have too much facility for the demand in Rochester now.’ One factor that might soften that forecast is that that Rochester clubs have unique features that attract members with different needs. ‘Having so many clubs in a small area (like Rochester) would certainly create tight competition,’ says Kara Thompson of the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. That means each club has to promote its own focus on exercise to meet the wide range of fitness needs from families to seniors to beginners to women's only to full-service to self serve. ‘We're a different animal, to be honest,’ says Bill Langlois, regional manager of the recently opened WorkOut World or W.O.W. club in the Crossroads Shopping Center. ‘We already have more than 2,000 members,’ he says. ‘The R.A.C. (Rochester Athletic Club) has sent us hundreds of members from there and Northgate has sent us dozens.’ However, ‘We have not seen much impact on our membership,’ says Lappin of the R.A.C. On the north side of the city, Dan Fischer says his full-service, 24-hour Northgate Health Club had its best fall in the past five years. The fitness industry is fairly recession-proof by all accounts, particularly during the early days of a new year as business expands with resolutions by people with expanding waistbands. In 2007, 41.5 million people in the United States were members of 29,636 health clubs, according to the IHRSA. While that is a 3 percent drop in membership from 2006, revenue increased over the past year to $18.5 billion, says Thompson of the industry group. That was due to members paying for additional services like nutrition classes, massage, acupuncture and personal training, she said. ‘People are still seeing opening a health club as a very smart investment, because people will always need to remain healthy and exercise and take care of themselves,’ she says.”

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