Feb 15, 2007 4:30 PM
Interview with Howard Brodsky, CEO of Health & Racquet Club, New York
Q: Would you consider opening a facility such as a Weight Watchers within your club?
A: I’ve had several companies come to us and want to open facilities within our facilities, and I’m just not comfortable with that.
Q: How are you preparing for the growing senior population?
A: We are primed for it. I would hope that for other clubs, they are primed for it. We are proud of our large senior population. We create programs around it. We have classes such as Better Bones and Restorative Yoga focusing on the senior population. Our issue is that we are trying to service Gen X, Y and Baby Boomers, too.
Music is the biggest issue in health clubs. We try to find music for everyone.
Q: How has programming changed at NYHRC since you’ve been there?
A: I came from Crunch, which was all about programming, so I was a firm believer in programming. However, I’m about fewer classes, more people in classes and more excitement in a class. People want to walk into a club with more energy. The Baby Boomers and Generation X want more excitement. I want a prospect to walk into a club and see a hip hop class of 40 people, not four. Our group program director has done an amazing job of reshaping our programming. Classes were a huge part of it. Quality is better than sheer numbers. The first thing we did was take accurate participant counts. We cut the classes that were not popular, and we became more innovative in the classes that we put on the schedule.
Q: What is the future of group exercise?
A: That is a moving target and it’s all about innovation. We try not to jump on the latest fads and trends. We turn to our employees. We try to have creative classes that no one else has had before. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon.
We’ll always have the basic classes that others have like spinning because that’s what people want, but let’s be creative with it. Let’s hear from the instructors because they have their fingers on the pulse of what people want.
Q: What is the future of personal training and group training?
A: We tried group training for a while. It didn’t work for us. There is so much of our market that is untapped with one-on-one training. We make it affordable with different pricing levels. It’s about finding the right personal trainers and director. The right education. The right certifications. Personal training is here is to stay.
Q: Your thoughts on competition?
A: In Manhattan, we don’t have a lot of non-profit competition, but it’s tremendous in the suburbs. Ys today are beautiful. In Manhattan, I think competition is great. Whenever a new club opens, there is a little panic from some people at the club near there, but I say this is when you become even friendlier. This is just bringing more people into the area.
Our flagship club had a new competitor come in, but eventually, our membership exploded. Competition is a challenge—a challenge to get better. It keeps us on our game.
Q: Will clubs have to compete based on price from now on?
A: I’ve made mistakes in the past of lowering the price to compete, but that’s what it was—a mistake. You get what you pay for. I don’t see our membership base jumping [to another club] to save money. If they are getting good service and a lot of value, then hold your own. I could see if I was a mom and pop club and a low-priced club opened next door. But I don’t know what the long-term staying power of a club is that charges $9 per month and offers few amenities. Bally had that model forever and look at its stock. I think short term it works because you load up with members, but the facilities can become rundown very quickly and that price isn’t going to give you the capital to keep up those facilities. The next five years will be very telling.
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