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Gen Xercise
Retro Fitness revisits the ’80s
Retro Fitness founder Eric Casaburi believes Generation Xers long to return to their youthful days when white-and-black checkered Vans, Rubik’s Cubes and Atari were status symbols for cool. And strong initial membership growth suggests he may be right.
As the name suggests, the ’80s live on in Retro Fitness gyms with décor that revisits popular color schemes of that era—walls of yellows and reds are combined with black-and-white checkered flooring. Music from the ’80s—such as Thompson Twins and Wham—is piped into clubs. LCD screens, linked with Direct TV satellite, are on every treadmill. Plus, the gyms have an on-site movie theater, where retro ’80s movies are shown non-stop.
“We keep true to the theme because we’re building a brand here,” Casaburi says. “A lot of people, even teenagers, know what ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ is, or the Rocky series, or Chevy Chase and the vacations. They’re great flicks.”
Retro Fitness first launched in May 2005, and currently has 23 locations sold along the East Coast and in Arizona. Each gym averages 10,000 to 12,000 square feet and contains cardio equipment such as treadmills and stationery bicycles as well as weights.
Casaburi, who has a degree in exercise science from Arizona State, opened his first club for a big-name brand when he was 22. His dissatisfaction with the brand’s “lack of support” led him to look into launching his own gym franchise about three years ago.
He considers the target market for Retro Fitness to be Generation Xers and older, even up to the baby boomers, given the gym’s low-cost price point. “The baby boomers could never justify fitness even though they could afford it, they couldn’t understand it because they didn’t grow up with it,” he says.
Beyond its retro hook, Retro Fitness offers memberships for $20 per month, with initiation fees ranging from $40 to $100. “Most of our members are on a one-year memberships,” Casaburi explains. “And once they sign, that rate is theirs forever.”
The number of members it takes to run profitable operations depends on the real estate and location of each gym, but Casaburi says most gyms see an average of 500 to 600 check-ins daily. Some gyms, he adds, have almost 4,000 members.
While Rob Berlin, franchisee of a Wallington, N.J., club, liked the retro look, it wasn’t the only thing that sold him on the concept.
“I’m 39-years-old, that was my era. The retro thing was cool but what excited me more was the concept of no classes. I loved that. I don’t want to be bothered with Pilates,” he says. “Ninety-six percent of people don’t even use those classes. My attitude was I don’t want to cater to the 4 percent of people who want classes, and the 96 percent of people who don’t.” His gym opened in August 2006 and currently has 1,850 members.
As for who fits the concept as a franchisee, Casaburi says prospects don’t need to be a fitness guru to own a gym. “Our owners don’t have to work 70 hours in our system. We want them to understand the system, and know the system, but our clubs do not have to be owner operated. They’re designed to be manager operated,” he says. Casaburi adds he hopes to make the Midwest the next growth area for the concept.
