Prospective members touring your club typically see all the basics and the things that differentiate your club from the competition. You show them your cardio machines grouped together with televisions on the wall or integrated entertainment options on the equipment. You point out your many group exercise classes and talk about how your personal trainers are the best and can help them achieve their goals. So, when you take them into the locker room, you don’t want it to look bare bones with old standard metal lockers or outdated lockers. If you do so, your chance to showcase a differentiating feature is likely lost.
The locker room used to be a place where patrons changed clothes before exercising. However, just as overall design of fitness clubs has evolved over the years, the locker room itself has become an integral part of the overall fitness club experience.
Today’s locker rooms rival that of spas more so than locker rooms of the past. High-end fitness clubs have integrated beautiful wood or laminate lockers, indirect lighting, private showers, wet areas and lounges inviting members to spend more time at the club. The locker room has, in fact, become a differentiating factor among clubs competing for members. If your club already has an updated locker room that you proudly show prospects, then you are headed in the right direction. Wood and laminate lockers of today are beautiful, functional, durable and surprisingly affordable. But is having a great locker room enough?
Savvy club operators know that lockers have not only evolved inside the locker room but they have also expanded to other areas within the club. Members need to secure personal belongings while using your facility, but some of them don’t necessarily want or need to go into your locker room. Does your club adequately satisfy this need? Some members just need a safe place to store their wallet and keys. Are your members leaving their wallets and purses in their car? If so, they are, in essence, saying that the greater risk of theft is in your locker room. Some members prefer to put their purse in a cubby during a group exercise class. But members definitely don’t enjoy carrying around personal items during their workout. Just as improved design has raised the bar in the locker room, varied usage of lockers at the club has presented the opportunity to provide specific use lockers throughout the facility to meet your customers’ expectations.
One positive result of lockers expanding throughout the fitness club is that while security cameras are not permitted in the locker room, wallet lockers can be located at or near the front desk where cameras typically monitor activity, which increases security. Wallet lockers can also be mounted on the wall providing secure storage for members who are reluctant to enter the locker room or those arriving at your club ready to work out. Adding wallet lockers is a simple storage solution and an affordable way to improve the member experience at your facility.
Whether you are renovating your locker rooms, building a new facility or adding specific use lockers outside your locker room, knowing the storage requirements of your membership and carefully implementing the right type of lockers can set your club apart from the competition, which allows your facility to not merely meet your members’ needs for personal storage but to exceed expectations.
Legacy Lockers is a leading wood and laminate locker manufacturer for the fitness industry with one goal in mind: building the highest quality products while putting the needs of our customers first. Standard products—including lockers, vanity stations, towel stations and benches—are available as well as custom designs built to your specifications.
If you are planning a new facility, are renovating an existing location, are adding lockers to your existing club(s), have a locker room that doesn’t create a competitive advantage for you or just want some general locker questions answered, Legacy Lockers welcomes the opportunity to discuss your project in detail or offer our expertise.
Legacy Lockers is an advertiser in the August 2010 issue of Club Industry magazine and the Aug. 18, 2010, Design Special Report e-newsletter.