Les Mills New Zealand has unveiled its new Mind Body Studio, which is opening at its Newmarket location, focusing on Reformer Pilates, varied yoga modalities and breathwork.
Les Mills New Zealand has unveiled its new Mind Body Studio, which is opening at its Newmarket location, focusing on Reformer Pilates, varied yoga modalities and breathwork.
Les Mills New Zealand has unveiled a new Auckland expansion into the fast-growing boutique wellness market.
However, as Les Mills New Zealand chief executive Brett Sutton explained, such innovation is vital to retaining memberships post-Covid.
The purpose-built 274sq m studio has been designed as a “calm, light-filled retreat” in theadjoining building of Les Mills’ Newmarket location.
The site introduces 20 top-of-the-line Reformer machines to the gym’s repertoire and has the flexibility to host three different yoga modalities with specially created music, giving members the opportunity to move, strengthen and recover in the single space.
Sutton said the decision to invest in the studio was to capitalise on growing trends internationally and he was excited for its upcoming opening.
“We know group fitness is one of the most powerful ways to build connection and community in our clubs,” he said.
“We’re proud to be expanding into the rapidly growing mindbody category with the introduction of Pilates Reformer, Les Mills Yoga and breathwork, all delivered with the same energy and expertise that defines our world-class group fitness offering.”
Les Mills New Zealand chief executive Brett Sutton said the business had invested millions of dollars over the last four years upgrading its equipment and locations.
It’s been developed in close partnership with sister company Les Mills International, Interact Architects in Wellington and construction partner Alaska, drawing from international best practice.
Sutton said the relationship between Les Mills New Zealand and Les Mills International is stronger than ever, with a lot of its programming innovation coming from the latter.
He said the brand had spent millions across its portfolio over the last three to four years on equipment and upgrades.
“Our obsession at the moment is to reinvest in our current portfolio, to bring more value and great quality into the members that we have in the 12 clubs across the country.
“I think it’s watch-and-learn, and we’ll react accordingly to the success of the product. We’ve already thought about where we might go next and how quickly. We’re ready to activate if we can and if we can bring more value to our membership quicker, then we’ll put the hammer down.”
Les Mills New Zealand has unveiled its new Mind Body Studio in Newmarket.
Covid impact
Despite the ongoing cost-of-living crisis affecting Kiwi wallets, Sutton said that gym memberships had remained flat year on year.
As to why this is the case, Sutton believed that Kiwis were more likely to sacrifice going out or spending on luxuries before they were willing to cut back on gym memberships, particularly those in the Millennial age group.
“There’s a real appetite from that age group to invest in their future and invest in themselves. That’s where they’re prepared to spend their money on experiences and health and wellbeing.”
During the Covid years, membership growth for Les Mills New Zealand actually increased, although it was heavily impacted by changes in alert levels.
Financial planning with the business’s banks helped it survive the first lockdown, but it was subsequently forced to reduce its nationwide workforce by 21% after financial pressure.
Sutton said the business has been able to regrow its workforce since that time, but changes to the business’s structure have kept it maintainable.
“We’ve brought in specialist roles to escalate our growth and support the innovation that’s happening within the business. Operationally, we’ve remained relatively lean but really smart in terms of what we deliver to our members so that we feel like we have a worker base that is appropriate to the size of the membership and what we operate in clubs.
“In some cases we haven’t gone back to what we were pre-Covid because we haven’t seen the demand from a membership perspective, and our focus has shifted.”
Les Mills’ Newmarket Mind Body Studio is set to open on September 29.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
