Brick Bodies Fitness Services Inc. is celebrating the re-grand opening of Brick Bodies Padonia, after $1 million in renovations.
The 60,000-square-foot facility now boasts a variety of new-and-improved amenities and features, including a HydroMassage Recovery Zone, expanded turf and stretching areas, enhanced group exercise studio and more.
Here, Vicki Brick, the CEO of Brick Bodies, explains what the renovation means for the property and future of the brand.
CS: What sparked such a major renovation project?
VB: We’ve always been big believers in reinvesting in the club and reinventing ourselves. We believe in building a club out to five years, which means when we originally build clubs, we pick and choose higher quality finishes and design looks that will last and stay in style for at least five years. We’ve hit the five-year mark of this location, and knew it was time to update. Prior to these renovations, the club looked great before and was super busy. We just knew it was time to reinvent ourselves for where we want to go in the future.
We also needed more space, which is a huge positive — that the club’s busy. The club is performing extremely well, and we were running out of space, so we needed to create more spaces and upgrade our spaces so they could inspire our members. We believe space is a luxury.
As I also mentioned, we believe in building spaces that inspire. We’re known for Group X in the Baltimore area and our classes are packed — that’s a huge positive. However, even though we get great attendance and our classes are packed, the space itself was a little uninspiring. So we’re installing world-class lighting, a world-class sound system, and we’re darkening the room to give it almost more of a nightclub type of feel. It’s really an experiential type of field in this space.
CS: What other trends are you incorporating into the space?
VB: We are really excited about this whole recovery concept in the industry. We believe it’s an important part of the wellness journey, and we know we need to have a specific space inside our clubs in order to offer our members a comprehensive wellness option. So, we built a specific recovery zone with HydroMassage chairs, specialty lighting and relaxing music. In addition to these recovery zones, we also doubled the size of our stretching area. We’ll offer stretch sessions there, foam rolling sessions, and we’re also looking at how we can maximize space or find some space to add a meditation zone in the future.
CS: In what ways is the Padonia location going to better engage members and help them reach their goals?
VB: We want to continue to create programming that will inspire through specific spaces. We’ve launched classes such as Yoga Sculpt, Yoga TRX, and U-Jam. We’re going to be one of the first clubs on the East Coast to be offering the U-Jam classes inside our new studio, which will be a perfect fit — a dance-based class inside what feels like a nightclub environment. On our turf, as I mentioned, we needed a lot of that space for our members, so we have to be respectful of when we’re programming. But because we have wide open space, we are taking advantage of doing master classes there. We’re also doing DJ-led massive group classes on the turf to really increase the energy, and we’ll be doing DJ classes in our group exercise room as well.
And then through the recovery, as I mentioned, we’ll be offering specific stretching sessions, foam roller sessions, and that meditation space. So within the member journey, they’ll be able to have not only inspiring design spaces, but inspiring programming that will connect and resonate with the member. When someone’s in our mind-body room, it’s going to feel like you’re in your own specific zen space; or when someone’s in a recovery zone, the mood, lighting, music and offerings will be tailored specifically to recovery. Our members are able to get personalized experiences within each zone and space that will inspire them based on what they’re looking to do.
CS: What were some lessons you gleaned from the renovation process?
VB: One of the big things we’ve really been focusing on is taking the time to develop a detailed marketing plan and launch plan to generate buzz with the investment. Obviously, we’re making sure there’s proper communication to the members as to the “whys” behind the project, but then also utilizing and spending a little bit more on some of the marketing material, whether it’s internal signage or postings for social media. For example, in our group exercise room that we’re putting the lighting and sound system into, we worked with Les Mills to actually create some imagery that embodies more of a dance-like party feel. That way, we’re letting people know the room’s closed for renovation, but instead of just posting a sign on a door, we have branding that almost starts to emotionally connect with our members about what that experience is going to look like in the future through the colors, the verbiage and pictures.
As a note for other operators, look at the marketing and messaging to your members and the community as an ability to start to build that brand and that experiential connection throughout the renovation process. That way, when the renovations are done, the members are super excited to experience what you have planned.
In addition, I think throughout and before the renovation process, it’s important your people know their vision and are trying to determine where they want to go, even if you only kind of know where you want to go. I think it’s so important to get out and see and learn from other leaders in the industry, and then from people outside our industry and draw inspiration from that as well.
