September 29, 2004
California Fitness announced in early September that it has purchased rival Hollywood Fitness for an impressive nine-digit NT dollar figure. This purchase of Hollywood's Tienmu and Taichung branches marks California's first move outside of the Taipei metro area, and makes it the outright leader of foreign-run fitness centers in Taiwan, bringing its total number of fitness centers here to five. There are also reports that California aims to open an additional branch in Tainan.
Prior to this buyout, California was the workout choice of 48,000 members. Taking in Hollywood's 18,000 members, it now boasts a total membership of nearly 60,000.
The medals recently won by Taiwan's athletes at the Athens Olympics have served to spur greater interest in excising among the local populous. This social change is expected to translate into big money for sports and recreation businesses. Despite California's conservative approach to expansion in the past, the fitness center has apparently been pacing itself and it now ready to overpower its competitors.
California's American parent company 24 Hour Fitness points out that it is the world's fitness center leader, with over 324 centers operating around the world.
However, the American franchise still faces strong competition from a number of local workout centers, including the big names Alexander and Youth Camp, which also have expansion plans in the works. Local competitors note that California's decision to expand was surely made only after careful consideration of the Taiwanese market and shows that there is a great deal of room for further growth.
(Economic Daily News)
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