Gold’s To Muscle Into Market

Stockton Record:

Gold’s Gym, which hasn’t been a health-club player in San Joaquin County since the ’80s, intends to re-enter the Stockton market by opening two centers within the next 2 years or so.

The Dallas-based company is on a growth spurt, especially in California, and in the next 2 years intends to add at least 20 new clubs to the 45 gyms already in the state, said Keith Albright, senior vice president of franchising for Gold’s Gym International.

The company absolutely will develop the Stockton clubs but is looking for a franchisee first and sites second, he said.

‘Out of the box, it looks to us as a two-gym market to start,’ Albright said. ‘We are going to do it, given the fact that we have a fair amount of franchisees to draw from.’

Many metro markets are very competitive in the fitness center sector, he said, and California is especially well-developed in the fitness scene.

That won’t deter Gold’s, which is doing very well with standardized top-quality centers and a name-recognition in the fitness scene second to none, Albright said.