Geared Up Issue 1 2017 | Page 33

David Bidwell, franchisee with PF
Miami Developers, agrees and recently
worked with a landlord for a club he is
opening in Lodi, California, to bring a
grocery store not just to the area, but to the
same space his club will occupy.
When K-Mart closed its doors last
summer, an 80,000-square-foot space
opened up. Now plans are for Planet
Fitness to occupy 25,000 square feet and
Grocery Outlet to occupy another 25,000
square feet, leaving roughly 30,000 square
feet still available to house two tenants.
“We prefer daily use co-tenants, such
as grocery,” said Bidwell. “As a part of our
deal in this center, we worked closely with
the landlord to secure Grocery Outlet as a
co-tenant. In this market, Grocery Outlet
is the most sought after grocery co-tenant,
and together we will successfully drive
business for each other.”
Another group that continually seeks
out grocery tenants is Sunshine Fitness
Management, which aims to have two
supermarkets within a mile of every Planet
Fitness it opens. Other aspects the group
looks for is retailers who have peak times
that are different from those of PF® and
locations that provide plenty of parking
“We typically target
second-generation space
that, at a minimum, will
receive a facelift during or
prior to our buildout.”
— Eric Dore
Sunshine Fitness Management franchisee
that tenants won’t be battling over.
“We target a general area where we
know the retail is strong,” said Sunshine
Fitness Management franchisee Eric
Dore. “If there is a large retailer, such as
Wal-Mart or Target, which is performing
at a high level, it provides a significant level
of confidence that the market will be a
good one for a Planet Fitness. We typically
target second-generation space that, at a
minimum, will receive a facelift during or
prior to our buildout. We might not be in
the new Wal-Mart or Target Supercenter,
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instead we might be in a center across the
street with good visibility to the main road
that we are able to get a stronger deal on,
but we are still able to capitalize on the
traffic that major retailers drive.”
Another tactic to consider when trying
to position yourself within a given market
is to think about the actual products and
services retailers around you are offering and
try to align them with your customer base.
“When something is a ‘value destina-
tion,’ as I like to call them, I love that,” said
Cavolo. Examples include Big Lots, Dollar
General and any value food store.
“ALDI’s is a great brand because those
are the people that are usually the same
income level that we’re looking for,” added
Cavolo.
In the end, the main goal is to out-
position the competition and make sure
you have a superior location where more
people want to be. G
Christina Cannon is the PFIFA
communications manager and asso-
ciate editor of Geared Up. You can
contact Cannon at 678-797-5160 or
[e-mail].
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