The UK‘s leading sports clothing retailer, Sports Direct, has announced that they have plans to open 200 gyms across the country.
The High Street chain will offer memberships from as little as £5 with all members having to pay an initial joining fee of £10.
The announcement comes after its acquisition of 30 branches of the LA fitness gym chain, which it is currently in the process of rebranding.
The first two Sports Direct Gyms will open in Aintree, Liverpool and Keighley, West Yorkshire respectively.
The Aintree branch will open next to a new Sports Direct superstore. A spokesman for Sports direct said: “”This will be affordable fitness on an unprecedented scale.
It will revolutionise the market by making private gym membership a realistic lifestyle choice for millions of people.”
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst, Freddie George said it was “a good move”. “There‘s a real gap in the market for this and there‘s some overlap with its sporting goods stores”.
The move come only a few days after the company, founded by Mike Ashley in 1982, announced it had acquired a 4.6% stake in Debenhams, as previously reported by Retail Gazette
