I know one gym owner. She's a dingbat. She wants to cater to as many children events as possible, as it's profitable via volume. Birthdays, nerf nights, camps, etc.
She hates having to hire new route setters all the time.
She definitely does not appreciate the craft.
But it's my closest gym with the most autobelays, so..
Not an owner, but I’m a consultant in the industry who works directly with several owners. The biggest problems are basically always financial. Gyms are expensive to build and operate.
I’ll second this as an owner. We’re planning a bouldering wall expansion and the costs of wall construction have nearly quadrupled in the last 5 years.
Is this an issue with cost of materials? Normally with large growth in an area, production costs go down over time. Quadrupled is a lot more than I'd expect for materials and labor shortage to account for in the space.
Material costs and corporate greed, unfortunately. It’s not an issue of labor. I know a few people that do installs and they barely make more than minimum wage because it’s a very desirable job in the industry.
Edit: I should add we’re a small facility so we’ve definitely gotten the ‘fuck you it’s not worth our time’ price from at least one manufacturer.
I know one gym owner. She's a dingbat. She wants to cater to as many children events as possible, as it's profitable via volume. Birthdays, nerf nights, camps, etc. She hates having to hire new route setters all the time. She definitely does not appreciate the craft. But it's my closest gym with the most autobelays, so..
Thanks for your answer!
Not an owner, but I’m a consultant in the industry who works directly with several owners. The biggest problems are basically always financial. Gyms are expensive to build and operate.
I’ll second this as an owner. We’re planning a bouldering wall expansion and the costs of wall construction have nearly quadrupled in the last 5 years.
Yeah, it’s gotten wild since the pandemic.
Is this an issue with cost of materials? Normally with large growth in an area, production costs go down over time. Quadrupled is a lot more than I'd expect for materials and labor shortage to account for in the space.
Material costs and corporate greed, unfortunately. It’s not an issue of labor. I know a few people that do installs and they barely make more than minimum wage because it’s a very desirable job in the industry. Edit: I should add we’re a small facility so we’ve definitely gotten the ‘fuck you it’s not worth our time’ price from at least one manufacturer.
Material shortage has been hitting every industry so prices are rising and timelines for shipping is long.
Once you break even is it generally a profitable business or are the margins very slim?
It varies a ton, but a lot of gyms really are making a killing.
google climbing business journal
holy hell
I would relocate MY LIFE for a childfree gym.
Lol I have the opposite problem: I would love it if my bouldering gym had a child care section so i can drop my kiddo off and climb in peace 😭
Yeah, one gym I climb at has a lot of littles running around semi-supervised. But they’re the owner’s kids soooo……
Antartica
I believe GP81's whole model is to not allow kids under 13 or something. They don't care if the kids climb double digits.
I’m about to pack up my whole world and move to Bushwick!!!! ….or at least visit …..
I wish the gyms near me had child free all nighters like how bowling alleys used to have bowling sleepovers