World Gym International, Los Angeles, is opening its first standalone World Gym Athletics small-group training studio in December, the company recently announced. The facility will be in Chilliwack, British Columbia
The new studio concept is based around the brand's signature small-group training program, World Gym Athletics, and will feature other classes such as kickboxing, cycling and yoga. The 8,500-square-foot studio is opening on a yet-to-be-determined date inside Chilliwack's Vedder Pointe Shopping Centre.
The studio is operated by franchisees Ernie Charlton and Mike Joseph, who were first exposed to World Gym Athletics at a World Gym club in Texas that offered the World Gym Athletics experience within it.
“Once we saw the sense of community, science behind the programming, education of the coaches and intensity of the workouts, we knew we had to bring this concept home to Chilliwack," Charlton said in a media release. "There is nothing else like it in Canada."
The new studio will offer each of World Gym Athletics' signature training programs: Foundations, Performance, HIIT Camp, PACE and One Barbell.
World Gym Athletics was designed by World Gym COO Doug Katona in 2017 as a "club within a club" concept. The program quickly caught on and is now offered in 13 of World Gym's U.S. clubs, with plans to expand the program to at least 30 clubs globally by the end of 2019.
“World Gym Athletics continues to grow and transform our athletes, gyms and brand,” Katona said in the release. “The new World Gym Athletics studio model allows World Gym to grow in even more possible ways. Our gyms can now vary in size from small 5,000-square-foot studios to 50,000-plus-square-foot flagship gyms.”
World Gym CEO Guy Cammilleri is projecting that the brand will grow to 500 locations by 2023—a mix of full-service clubs and World Gym Athletics studios.
In other news, in September, World Gym held its annual franchise convention in Las Vegas.