EnVie Fitness for Women is migrating to the U.S. The Australian-based fitness franchise recently revealed plans to open 10 studios across the San Diego area over the next several years. These new studios will be in addition to the two studios already open in Texas and Arizona.
Liberty Harper will own and operate the area’s first location, which will open this fall. Harper got her start in the fitness industry at a young age. As a senior in high school she fell in love with cardio kickboxing and quickly pursued a certification as an aerobics instructor.
Harper went on to open two Curves franchises with her parents and developed her own fitness company, Liberty Fitness, which eventually became a franchise and grew to 65 locations. Harper later resigned from Liberty Fitness, but throughout the process she gained considerable knowledge surrounding the operations and franchising aspects of a fitness brand.
Gary Findley, former president of the Curves International chain, recognized Harper’s extensive resume. “Last year Gary called me and said he had become involved with this company called EnVie,” explained Harper. “He had been asked to help grow the EnVie brand and wanted to bring me on to help.”
After traveling to Australia to visit the studios and meet with investors, Harper says she fell in love with the brand. “As of January of this year, I started working with the company on the franchisor and operations side, but then I believed so much in it and what we are moving towards in terms of our latest business model, I decided to open one myself,” she added.
According to Harper there are several elements that make EnVie unique. The brand is dedicated to providing women with a large variety of classes for a complete workout experience.
“A lot of women who go to a conventional gym often gravitate towards group fitness and they get the variety, so we have decided to develop the best group fitness experience,” said Harper. “We have that beautiful boutique feel, but we offer barre, yoga, Pilates, various cardio classes, strength training, we have running groups and walking groups, etc. We have a wide variety of programming.”
EnVie also offers a few core classes that are specific to the EnVie brand. These classes focus on heart rate training. “We partnered with MYZONE, that way our members know exactly what they are doing in every class,” explained Harper. “Our core classes that are specific to EnVie really focus on that zone training.”With the opening of her first location fast approaching, Harper has shifted her focus to marketing. Since she has been an active member of the San Diego community for over 17 years, Harper says she has a little bit of an advantage.
“The one good thing about the studio opening in my backyard is this is where I have built my strongest network,” she explained. “Even within a few days of launching the Facebook page we had over 200 likes immediately. We will keep building our social media marketing and then getting all the ladies to talk is pretty key. It is really word of mouth and local marketing. We look at ourselves as a community within our EnVie studio, so it will be that type of community marketing that helps us grow.”
