Fitness Carter: Planet Fitness opens its second largest facility in US in Grand Rapids

KENTWOOD, MI -- The second largest Planet Fitness health club ^[1] in the nation just opened at Centerpointe Mall.

The opening this week is timed to accommodate the traditional New Year’s rush, when people tend to recommit to a physical fitness regime, said Bryan Rief who owns the facility with his wife Laura.

The Kentwood location is the second Grand Rapids area location opened by the Northville couple, who own and operate 15 Planet Fitness locations - including 10 in Detroit and three in Toledo.

Their other Grand Rapids area location is in the retail setting of the Rivertown Center in Grandville.

The Newington, N.H.-based Planet Fitness is currently the country’s fastest growing health club chain. The company says its success is based on turning the traditional health club model upside down by offering a mix of low membership fees and friendly, and hassle-free environment.

Membership is $10 a month, and doesn’t include a contract which means people can easily cancel.

“We probably get as much positive feedback as we get from the whole experience Planet Fitness,” Reif said. “Our target audience is a casual gym user. They will likely be back to us at some point so we want it to be a positive experience regardless.”

The chain’s business model works on collecting a smaller fee because the facility is designed to accommodate larger groups of people, who tend not to spend a lot of time in the gym. Operational costs are lower because the facilities don’t have pools, exercise classes, childcare or juice bars.

The founders of the franchise chain started with this basic premise of answering why 80 percent of the population not members at a health club, Rief said.

"Our mission is to offer everyone a friendly, non-intimidating atmosphere to exercise at a very affordable price,” Laura Rief said.

The 40,000 square-foot location at Centerpointe Mall takes part of former Menards store, and features an extensive selection of cardio equipment including treadmills, ellipticals, stair-climbers, and stationary bikes. The facility also includes lockers, showers and private dressing stalls.

Planet Fitness also offers upper and lower body strength machines, a 30-minute express circuit workout, 12-minute ab circuit, and new a multi-function training unit.

While Planet Fitness doesn’t have classes like traditional health clubs, it does offer free group fitness training with certified fitness instructor and free individualized workout plans.

Those who upgrade to a $20 membership -- which requires a contract for the first 12 months - have free access to a designated PF Black Card area, which features HydroMassage beds, massage chairs, Total Body Enhancement booths and multi-level tanning. This level comes with other perks including free guest passes, and reciprocal use of Planet Fitness locations across the country.

The 25,000-square-foot Rivertown Center club has similar equipment offering. Both facilities are open and fully staffed 24 hours, seven days a week.

Bryan Rief says workout area is geared to the first time users rather than hardcore bodybuilders. The workout area is called “The Judgement Free Zone” to emphasize the chain’s focus on offering a different experience from traditional health clubs by providing what it calls a “relaxed, non-intimidating atmosphere.”

“When you walk into Planet Fitness, you don’t have big guys walking around grunting and throwing things around and wearing skinny tank tops,” Rief said.

He added that the customer base ranges from high school students to senior citizens, although the bulk of members tend to be women ages 25 to 54 years old.

The couple plan to open more locations in the Grand Rapids area over the next two to three years.

The Planet Fitness locations in Holland, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor are operated by other franchise owners.

Before opening Planet Fitness franchise, Bryan and Laura Rief were in the commercial real estate business in the New Hampshire, and met the co-founders of Planet Fitness. They decided to move to Michigan, where Laura grew up in St. Clair Shores, because there were more franchise locations available. They opened their first facility in Livonia in 2008.

Their real estate background has proven helpful in the new business.

“We go through and rigorous real estate analysis of each location,” Bryan Rief said. “Our model works very help in traditional big box or power centers.”

Those locations work because of accessibility, visibility and ample parking.

Launched in 1992 in Dover, N.H., Planet Fitness has more than 700 locations nationwide with a total of more than 4.5 million members.

The chain is also national brand partner of The Biggest Loser, an NBC reality show and weight loss competition.

Shandra Martinez covers business for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her ^[3] or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez ^[4] .