Sell for More News is a weekly blog series with interesting information from the world of commercial real estate.
Hy-Vee is teaming up with high-intensity training gym OrangeTheory to build studios attached to its stores. ShopRite opened a store with a fitness studio that offers yoga and Zumba classes for its shoppers with loyalty cards. And Whole Foods’ partners with barre, spinning and yoga studios which provide classes on its rooftop plazas.
As competition in the grocery industry stiffens, these stores hope to attract time-strapped shoppers by creating convenient experiences that shoppers can’t replicate online. Grocery stores see an opening in the surging fitness industry, one of the rare business areas that has not been cannibalized by Amazon. Over the past four years, boutique studio memberships in the US have increased by 70%.
Grocers are understanding that to bring people back in store they must create these activities. They want to create this “hangout factor” in the store.
Although grocery partnerships with fitness companies are still in their early stages, bringing on gyms makes sense for health-oriented grocers. H-E-B or Meijer may add a fitness-related concept in the future. H-E-B, the cult-favorite in Texas, already sponsors free yoga in some of its stores.
Experts say grocers have also stepped up their focus on catering to customers’ health demands in recent years. Supermarkets are adding juice bars and health clinics and bringing dieticians into stores.
Hy-Vee and OrangeTheory are testing out studios attached to a full-size Hy-Vee supermarkets. As well as their “HealthMarket” design with is a slimmed-down Hy-Vee store. This 15,000 SF concept store is a sixth the size of a traditional Hy-Vee but still has a pharmacy, health clinic, and hearing aid and sports nutrition areas. It also offers nitro coffee, kombucha and Bevi-infused water.
Grocers are not alone in turning to the fitness industry for growth. Malls and brick-and-mortar retailers are betting on gyms and boutique studios to win over their shoppers. The number of fitness tenants in shopping centers has more doubled over the last decade. And traditional retailers such as Kohl’s joined with Planet Fitness to add gyms adjacent to a handful of stores…while Lululemon has studios at its new flagship stores.
Planet Fitness offers clues into why companies are eager to bring on fitness clubs…the chain says that when its members go to the gym…76% of them combine their visits with other shopping.
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About Beau Beach, MBA CCIM
Beau is a tenacious Commercial Real Estate Broker, author and adoring father of four. His clients appreciate his no-nonsense demeanor and his legendary work ethic.
Beau leads Beachwood which is a commercial real estate broker for sellers in the Nashville, Milwaukee and South Florida markets.
He’s the author of the books The 3 Reasons: Why Most Commercial Properties Don’t Sell and True Wealth: What Every Seller Should Know About 1031 Exchanges.
Beau can be reached at 800-721-3287, click to schedule a call or Beau@BeachwoodSells.com