Gold’s Gym, a pioneer in modern day fitness clubs whose early Venice Beach, California, regulars included Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, was dealt a blow at the onset of the pandemic, along with the rest of the gym and health club industry.
But the new D.C.-area franchise operator is back in growth mode postpandemic.
Gold’s filed for bankruptcy reorganization in May of 2020 and emerged under new ownership by RSG Group two months later. As part of its reorganization, local franchise ownership group GBG LLC purchased two dozen D.C.-area Gold’s Gym locations, many of which had closed.
Since then, the Gold’s Gym D.C. Metro franchise, has opened six new locations and renovated four existing ones. It most recently opened a club at Georgetown Park in Georgetown, filling a hole left at that location when Washington Sports Club permanently closed in 2020, though it occupies a different space than WSC did.
It has also signed a lease for a club near Audi Field at D.C.’s Buzzard Point, as the first retail tenant at Toll Brothers Vermeer residential building. That location will open this winter.
Other new locations are coming soon to Silver Spring, Maryland, and D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood.
The D.C. Gold’s Gym franchise currently has 18 locations open. It has a membership base of more than 60,000 and about 600 D.C.-area employees.
Gold’s Gym now has about 60 company-owned locations and more than 600 franchise-operated locations globally.
Bodybuilder Joe Gold opened the first Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach in 1965. It has changed ownership several times. Its postbankruptcy owner, RSG Group, also owns McFit, the largest fitness chain in Germany.
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