AusLeisure

US-based Anytime Fitness has acquired three locations in Hong Kong as it targets opening 100 gyms across the city in the next three to five years.

Anytime Fitness’ expansion comes after the closure of eight Fitness First centres in the city in March, as a result of strict anti-pandemic lockdown measures that have impacted fitness industry incomes over the past two years.

In a statement the franchise group advised that the new facilities in Ma On Shan Heng On Estate, Hung Hom and a soon-to-be-opened 557 metre² club in Fanling by mid June, will bring Anytime Fitness’s portfolio in Hong Kong to 24 branches with more than 30,000 members.

Confident about the expansion, Anytime Fitness (HK) Managing Director, Maxie Mak noted “with health and fitness a more important priority than ever, we haven’t stopped growing in Hong Kong despite emergency closures and restrictions.

“Our longer-term target is reaching a milestone of 100 branches in the next three to five years.”

Mak added that the group’s expansion will also focus on larger premises with of more than 450 557 metre² in size, with gyms situated closer to residential neighbourhoods for a wider community reach.

When gyms were ordered to close by the Hong Kong Government to combat the spread of Covid-19, Mak said Anytime Fitness cancelled membership fees rather than adopt the standard practice of adding closed months to membership terms.

After several months of closures, fitness clubs were finally allowed to open their doors to members in late April, and, as identified by Lawrence Wan, Senior Director - Advisory and Transaction Services - Retail, at CBRE Hong Kong, new operators are slowly entering the market.

Wan told the South China Morning Post “we do see some local and international gym operators emerging in the market, but they will not necessarily take over abandoned sites.”

Gordon Yau, Chairman of the investigative panel of Hong Kong Fitness Guide, an industry group launched in 2017 advised that the sector has lost at least HK$1 billion (US$127 million) in revenue since the closure of gyms in January this year.

The city had 1,189 sports and fitness venues, according to Hong Kong Fitness Guide’s latest survey in October 2021, 22% more than in 2019, while revenue from the city’s fitness and sports centres amounted to HK$3.66 billion in 2021.

Image: Anytime Fitness Sai Ying Pun.

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