The bar(bell) was set high for Gymshark’s highly anticipated, first-ever flagship store on Regent Street, which will finally open its doors on Saturday after being in the works for over a year.
Gymshark, which was valued at £1 billion in 2020, has risen from disruptor to a retail force to be reckoned with – and expectations are through the roof that it’s flagship store will be equally disruptive.
Ahead of the opening, Retail Gazette had a sneak peek of the former J Crew store and chatted with founder and chief executive Ben Francis, who says his aim was to get as close as possible to ” the perfect store”.
“The ambition is to be an iconic brand globally,” Ben Francis, CEO, Gymshark
“I want people that visit here to give us the feedback that they love it,” he says.
Francis believes that many retailers have failed to deliver true experiences to in-store shoppers.
“How many years have people been writing articles about retail needing to be more experiential? Then what people do is stick a selfie camera in the corner and say ‘this is experiential’.”
Instead, Gymshark vowed to “really push the envelope” and “create a truly experiential store”.
“I think we did a cracking job – well, I would say that,” he laughs.
The Gymshark store fully encapsulates exactly what the brand is about: fitness for the Instagram generation.
From clothing rails made out of fully functional squat racks to moveable billboards and state-of-the-art changing rooms fit with customisable lighting for those looking for the perfect selfie – this is every gym bunny’s dream.
Upon entry, the first thing your eyes are drawn to are the chiselled mannequins seen squatting, stretching and lunging across the store.
Gymshark global IRL director Mitch Healey explains that the model’s muscles are so lifelike because they are 3D-printed scans of Gymshark athletes.
“Our mannequins are real people from our community or ambassador roster,” adds chief brand officer Noel Mack.
“Representation is everything so we kicked off a long process of casting, scanning and finally 3D printing to ensure everyone can see themselves at Gymshark London.”
Community, conditioning and retail
There are three key pillars that this store is built on, according to Francis: community, conditioning and retail.
Of course, the 18,000 sq ft store is a place where gym-lovers can buy new gear but it’s also a place for its vast customer base to get together and get fit.
Those visiting can book personal trainer sessions and studio classes in the store’s ‘Sweat Room’. They can also freshen up post-workout in a state-of-the-art gender-neutral locker and shower rooms.
Inportantly, all the classes and workouts are free of charge, as the brand wants to be accessible for all, especially as consumers feel the pinch amid the cost-of-living crisis.
In a nod to the importance of social media to Gymshark, it has also included a personal shopping room, which doubles up as a green room for influencer events and activations.
The store feels much larger than similar flagships on the famous shopping strip, housing a Joe & The Juice with speciality Gymshark drinks as well ‘The Hub’ section of the store that its community that can mould, change and evolve to host podcasts, panels, workshops, screenings, live streaming, Sunday Brunch Clubs and more.
More Gymshark stores
Regent Street is a firm flag in the sand for Gymshark but could it be the start of a larger store estate?
“That would be the dream,” says Francis. “We need this one to go well first.”
He admits that after opening the doors on Saturday, he will take six to 12-months to establish it’s success.
“Inevitably, there’s going to be areas in here that we just get wrong. We need to listen to the consumer for feedback and basically build a perfect store. Once we’re comfortable, then I would love to do more in the future,” he says.
The future of Gymshark
New stores aside, where does Francis see the brand in the next five years?
The Gymshark CEO is bold: “The ambition is to be an iconic brand globally.”
Although as a “proud Brit”, Francis wanted to open his first store in the UK, three quarters of Gymshark’s sales now come from overseas, with the US it’s biggest market globally.
The business on track to hit almost £250 million in the country in its year to July. That is around half of its total sales.
“We just need to continue to innovate,” Ben Francis, CEO, Gymshark
The sporting giant opened an office in Denver, Colorado back in 2021 which Francis has been travelling to regularly.
“We’re really trying to understand the US consumer because it is different out there,” he says.
“It’s a different world. They’re very much sport-focused – people tend to train for sport, whether it’s American football, basketball or baseball,”
Francis and his team are trying to gain a true understanding of the American consumer to really conquer the US.
As well as a good understanding of its global shoppers, Francis believes its product is its biggest strength in building the iconic brand he covets.
“I think to be a truly iconic brand, you have to build great products,” he says.
And while he says Gymshark does a “good job” at this at the moment, there is still room for improvement.
“I want Gymshark to build the best lifting products in the world, the best conditioning product in the world,” he says.
“And if you’re into the gym in any way, shape or form – whether as a hardcore powerlifter, or someone that just wants to visit the gym occasionally – I want Gymshark to be the go-to brand for you.”
Gymshark faces stiff competition. In fact, its meteoric rise has spurred many copycat brands that are plastering Instagram with their lycra-clad models.
Francis says: “I think that’s a natural challenge and it’s definitely something we’re seeing more now than ever”.
However, he sees it as a positive. “This is a necessary pressure to keep companies like us innovating.That’s why we take risks.”
“We could have just chucked up your bog standard retail store here, and basically tried to squeeze every penny from every square foot here. In many respects, that would have been the logical thing to do.”
Instead, he explains, Gymshark invests in its business, from its products to its store, to help it stay ahead of the competition.
“I think we’ve got a differentiated brand and I think our product really stands up. I’m really proud of the product we’ve created, particularly at the price point that we’re. We just need to continue to innovate.”
Gymshark chief brand officer Noel Mack adds that the retailer is unafraid to “zig when others zag”.
He points out that during the heights of the pandemic, when every retailer was placing bets on ecommerce and retailers were “bailing on their leases”, Gymshark signed for its Regent Street site.
“So many ecommerce retailers are now struggling, and have said openly said they made the wrong bet at the start Covid. Thank God we zigged when others zagged.”
Avoiding the online crash
As Mack says, many of the UK’s online pandemic winners have been losing the gains made as shoppers return to stores, and supply issues and surging costs hit trade.
However, Francis remains confident in his largely-only business.
“We’re doing alright so far, we’re a growing brand,” he says.
“We’re so early on in the year it’s difficult to tell where we are but so far we’re happy,” he says, adding that visits to the website are ahead of what they budgeted six months ago.
As the share price of online counterparts like Asos and Boohoo crash, Francis must be pleased that Gymshark did not opt to IPO, which has long-been speculated for the brand.
But will Francis, who sold a 21% stake to private equity firm General Atlantic in 2020, revisit this prospect when the market returns?
He is very clear to Retail Gazette: “I’m not going to sell this business.”
“In terms of an IPO, we’re not looking at that anytime soon. We’ve got plenty on our plate – we need to get this store launched, we need to smash the US market, and quite frankly, we just need to manage through the next 12 to 18 months.”
There is certainly a lot to keep Francis and his team busy. But, the first thing on his list – making Regent Street a success – looks soon to have a big tick against it.
It’s a store that makes a statement and makes Gymshark visible not just to Londoners but visitors from around the world.
It should make not just shoppers, but fellow retailers, sit up and take notice of one of retail’s fittest brands.
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