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Post by determined1 on Feb 8, 2017 0:27:54 GMT
That helps a lot. That's exactly what I was thinking of was walkways and the front desk area. My walkway area is more of a square with equipment inside the square and around the outer part. Only thing is my members do lunges in the walkway and put kettlebells and dumbbells on it all the time. I have a member who does remodeling and design work, but is struggling right now, so I'd probably have him do the work.
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Post by swtexan on Feb 9, 2017 12:01:55 GMT
My club first opened in 2007. I've added new equipment as I can (I've owned for only a few years)- thankfully I will not have to upgrade equipment with the redesign. I've been toying with the idea of completing the redesign a little early just to get it done. I will have to do the desk, floor, "wood" panel behind TV's, mural or logo and paint. I'm wondering what everyone else thinks about the redesign and completing it early? I technically don't have to do it for a while, so I'm leaning toward just saving money for now and waiting. Thoughts?
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Post by Amy on Feb 9, 2017 14:24:48 GMT
swtexan....my honest feedback is the design is not too bad. I like the colors and the wood accents. At least they didn't screw this up entirely I guess is what I'm trying to say like many, many other things. I would however plan to wait until you absolutely need to do it. You will need that time to save up, maybe sell a child on the black market. Double or triple what you think it should cost. After figuring in shipping the desk is about $3,500 alone!
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Post by snaplongtimer on Feb 9, 2017 17:11:48 GMT
I have the same thing as determined where people do their lunges in the walkway. I worry about the winter mess when people walk straight back to the change room leaving a trail of wet/mud/snow lying on the hard floor where a dark carpet would hide that. Probably have to use a swifter throughout the day. Like Amy, I like the accents and change of colors. My window of change would probably be late summer...not this coming either.
There have been many other instances I have heard and know of where franchisees ie. snap, 9 rounds have complained about the costs of upgrading or initial build out and done it themselves and gotten away with it. I am sure if you pressed the snap build out team for specs on everything we could do it ourselves. If I owned the brand, I would allow zees to do this as an exchange for getting clubs to modernize sooner.
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Post by New Here on Feb 9, 2017 17:21:41 GMT
Is there anything in our agreement stating we must allow some arm of corporate to do any buildout? As long as we meet their requirements, I'm not sure they can legally make such a requirement.
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Post by swtexan on Feb 9, 2017 17:47:44 GMT
I don't think so. As long as you meet the requirements of the build out or redesign, I don't think that Snap has to "do" the redesign or build out for you. You still have to get the upgrades through Snap (i.e. desk, flooring, mural, panels, etc). I've asked if I could have someone of my choosing do the work and was told that would be fine.
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Post by yeeeee on Feb 9, 2017 19:37:39 GMT
We bought an existing club and the told us within 6 months we needed to update. Here we are over a year later and we still haven't updated. We are going to bother until they come knocking on our door.
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Post by greenergrass on Feb 10, 2017 13:28:48 GMT
Well for me, if they insist on expensive updates, it won't happen and I will close for certain. In this case, they can only hope someone will come in and take over in a saturated market surrounded by $10 gyms and Anytime Fitness, and other private gyms.
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Post by cheryl on Feb 10, 2017 19:55:27 GMT
What I find really interesting is that they're putting out this newsletter to send out to members encouraging them to post pictures. So far not a single picture has been taken in a "modernized" club. I guess all those "bad" clubs have good members.
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Post by snaplongtimer on Feb 10, 2017 23:14:56 GMT
I don't understand the pictures..what new carpet/rubber? lol Struggling clubs (like I have one) will at the most ride out their contract and terminate with no modernizing. Why increase my debt with a proven record of very little return for that surrounding area. I'll be seeing red stripes to the end.
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Post by greenergrass on Feb 10, 2017 23:58:07 GMT
Right! At least one of mine will close at the end of the term. No point in losing more. I don't expect to see any significant changes with corporate that would RETAIN me as a franchisee. I would not modernize if I were a club with years left on my term because you don't know what will change. Your market could change and then you decide not to continue. And even the modernization (the look) could change between now and the end of your current term! Stripe. Add yellow to the stripe. Remove the stripe. The decals could change. The flooring could change. Let's keep changing things that don't improve our financial status and then many of us will certainly close at the end of our terms. Very sad. I didn't join this franchise to lose money or have additional stress. Corporate thinks we are disengaged? Why would we be disengaged with something we dumped so much hard earned money into? HOW MANY MORE CLUBS NEED TO CLOSE BEFORE THEY WILL UNDERSTAND!!!!
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Post by snaplongtimer on Feb 12, 2017 16:06:09 GMT
Unless you have a beat up club floor from the incredible business you've been doing, I would drag my feet on a remodel. The fact is, members appreciate new upgraded equipment and clean facilities. Members, what seems like every other day, compliment me on how clean the club is. I put extra effort and time into that because it pays off. Installing new and unusual equipment and I receive words of appreciation thanking me for reinvesting in their club. NOBODY IS GOING TO THANK ME FOR NEW CARPET.
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Post by swtexan on Feb 12, 2017 18:51:10 GMT
It's actually quite funny what some people recognize/or not. When I first bought my club, I was in the club every day (since I staffed the majority of the hours myself) for long periods of time. One of the first things that I did was reorganize the club- there was no storage and most of the PT toys (swiss balls, medicine balls, mats- etc) were just piled up on the floor. So, I bought organization storage for that. At the same time, I cleaned everything- literally everything- I even scrubbed all of the walls. The place was a pig sty and I could not believe that the seller was wondering why he lost money. One day, soon after I cleaned everything- a former member came in to rejoin the club. She told me that her membership had terminated about 6 months before, so I introduced myself and told her that I was glad she came back. She was looking around and said "everything looks so different, when did you paint?". Same as snaplongtimer, I've received numerous "thank you"s" for keeping the club clean. I have decided to wait on the remodel- I think that it's about time to finally buy that rowing machine that I've had my eye on for quite some time. After that, thankfully, I'm out of space for adding new equipment. Hoping that I can get another two years out of the Cyber 445 treadmills that are 10 years old!
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Post by snaplongtimer on Feb 13, 2017 16:39:58 GMT
I still have the 445 treads and have been doing my own repairs. They are the first pieces to break down. If I don't do the repairs myself, I would have closed my one club some time ago given the cost of service calls and markup of parts. I try to fix most everything that can go wrong with those treads including replacing components on the motor control boards. I believe those treads will last quite some time. Like an old car, keep replacing parts and it keeps running. It's just a matter of when you want to upgrade to a newer look and feel.
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Post by Peter LaFluer on Feb 13, 2017 19:51:51 GMT
With Cybex being acquired by Lifefitness last month parts for Cybex are most likely going to get harder and harder to get. Not to mention that the "approved" Cybex equipment may no longer be "approved" depending on what sort of Kickback deal Snap Corporate can make with Lifefitness. The truth of the matter is, 99.9 percent of my memberbase (and I would assume yours as well) couldn't tell the difference between, (nor would they care to) a 2017 Octane elliptical and a 1997 Precor 944 elliptical. So long as your equipment is clean, and functional most people just want someone to remember their name... remember their goals, and be available to address and fix any bumps along the way. This is no different than any other "people pleasing" business, no amount of flag decals, wood flooring, or shiny new equipment can replace that. Corporate honestly believes that clubs that clubs that do not do the "mandatory updates" is damaging to the brand, but the truth of the matter is people need to actually know what your brand IS (outside of Minnesota) in order for any "brand damage" to take place. I am in a market where I am close enough to a "modern club" with all of the new fancy corporate bells and whistles that we share some members, but the funny thing is, not a week goes by where I don't hear from at least ONE of those members that the other owner is a Jerk, and his employees are rude. They don't ask me why I don't have brand new wood way treadmills. They are more interested in knowing why myself and my employees/trainers are so much nicer.
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