New 24-hour gym chain to expand into Idaho

24-hour gym chain Workout Anytime is expanding into the Northwest, including Idaho, this year.

Workout Anytime, based in Atlanta, typically uses about 6,000 square feet for its fitness clubs and offers just cardiovascular equipment and free weights.

The company has no locations west of Chicago now.

The two men overseeing the brand’s expansion, Rick Hascall and Chris Gately, met in 2010 in Israel where both were government contractors performing diplomatic security in high threat areas.

“We happened to be in the same place at the same time over there and became friends,” said Hascall. The two worked together in both Israel and Iraq.

Gately, an area developer for Workout Anytime in northern Florida who runs one gym in Panama City, Fla., said operating a gym is a good fit for former security contractors because they already care about fitness and typically are paid well as contractors.

“Guys are always looking for an exit strategy, but have a hard time letting go of their money,” Gately said. Hascall, a retired Portland, Ore. police officer, said he met with Gately a year ago to discuss Workout Anytime. He bought the area developer rights for the chain for Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Hascall said his first gym should open in the Portland area by the end of the year. He hopes that first location will serve as a showcase for other potential franchisees in the Northwest. Hascall said he likely will need to find a franchisee to open a gym in the Boise area. Gately, who grew up in La Grande, Ore. and lived in Meridian, said he’s talking to other former contractors he knows in the Boise area about opening a gym.

“It’s a great business model, and I think the franchise will do pretty well out here,” Hascall said.

Workout Anytime’s gyms are open 24 hours a day. Members need to use keycards to get into the gym outside business hours, when the gyms aren’t staffed. The gyms typically have two or three employees, Gately said, plus a few personal trainers. Gately said the gym eschews many amenities, like classes, daycare, a swimming pool or racquetball courts, to keep its costs down. Membership is typically $15 a month with no long-term contract,  and members can pay more to use tanning beds or water massage beds.

“If I had daycare, the costs would be higher, and I’d lose people with the higher costs,” Gately said. Startup costs for a franchisee are roughly $120,000, he said.

Gately said the Boise market, where Workout Anytime will likely start in Idaho, is well-saturated with gyms, though he said Workout Anytime has successfully grown in larger markets with lots of gyms like Chicago and Atlanta. The chain has more than 60 locations, primarily in the southeastern U.S.