Considering Opening a Children's Gym? Expert Advice and Market Potential

[Kanne]

Hi everyone. I need your thoughts. I'm thinking about opening a Children's Gym, like Gymboree or The Little Gym or My Gym. We don't have one in my area and I really feel like there is a big market for it. It's a big financial investment, of course, and a risk, but I think it could work. The great thing about the established franchises is they have so much expertise and do so much training and it's practically a proven formula. But, it's a lot of money to risk and what will I do if it doesn't work out?

Tell me what you think...

 

[tiffanypc05]

Not sure if things have changed or not but Gymboree wont let your own children in the gym. That might be something to think about.

I say though that if you have the money to start it, give it a chance.

 

[pcheframsey]

Do you need any special training for it? That would rule me out. I don't think being the mother of 4 kids automatically qualifies me. It should though!

 

[dannyzmom]

We have about 4 of those type of places in a 15 mile radius here and they are ALL doing very well!

 

[speedychef]

I have two girlfriends that recently opened gymnastics gyms. They are independent gyms, and they are geared towards gymnastics, but they're focusing on preschoolers and are both doing very well. People love to have things for their kids to do!

 

[Paige Dixon]

I came very close to opening a Gymboree before I went with PC instead. I was very ready to go until I read through the manual and saw that my own children were not allowed on the premesis. Alot of the Gymboree owners have 5 or more franchises, some over 10! I phoned several of them to find out how they were able to handle so many. I figured that if they could keep that many Gymboree's going, I could surely do it and still be a good mom. They all told me to get a nanny, ensuring me that I wouldn't be able to pull it off without a nanny. It just didn't make sense to me to play with other people's children while mine were with a nanny...

Anyway, about 2 years ago, Little Gym opened here and I can see it's more versatile than Gymboree as it offers many different types of programs and is for a wider age range. It went out of business already!!

And here I am still going strong with Pampered Chef. No, I'm not making my goal of $350,000/year, but I'm surviving. Did you know that Gymboree was an $80,000-$100,000 investment??!! How long do you work for free to pay for that?

 

[chefkristin]

I came very close to opening a Gymboree before I went with PC instead. I was very ready to go until I read through the manual and saw that my own children were not allowed on the premesis. Alot of the Gymboree owners have 5 or more franchises, some over 10! I phoned several of them to find out how they were able to handle so many. I figured that if they could keep that many Gymboree's going, I could surely do it and still be a good mom. They all told me to get a nanny, ensuring me that I wouldn't be able to pull it off without a nanny. It just didn't make sense to me to play with other people's children while mine were with a nanny...

Anyway, about 2 years ago, Little Gym opened here and I can see it's more versatile than Gymboree as it offers many different types of programs and is for a wider age range. It went out of business already!!

And here I am still going strong with Pampered Chef. No, I'm not making my goal of $350,000/year, but I'm surviving. Did you know that Gymboree was an $80,000-$100,000 investment??!! How long do you work for free to pay for that?

Is the Little Gym expensive? We have one in the next town over.

 

[MicheleC]

How crazy that you can't have your own kids there!! Paige, I think I would have laughed at the person telling me that I would need to hire a nanny so that I could run a business centered around children! Starting your own business is about flexibility to make your own choices.