The Madison area is getting a second chain of 24/7, lower-cost, no-frills, compact fitness facilities.
After The Capital Times reported earlier this month that two franchisees of Anytime Fitness had begun opening a series of its clubs in the Madison area, a local franchisee of Snap Fitness called to report that chain’s pending debut in the area. Both Snap and Anytime are based in the Twin Cities.
Like Anytime, Snap keeps its membership fees down by offering the latest in weights and cardio equipment, but eschewing the pools, locker rooms, racquetball courts, classrooms and daycare facilities of full-service health clubs like the Princeton Club. Anytime and Snap also keep costs down by not staffing several hours a day while providing sophisticated security systems.
“We’re an alternative” to the full-service clubs, said Dan Madson, one of three partners in one of the local Snap franchise operations.
Madson, who has twice completed the Ironman Wisconsin, belongs to one of the big local clubs so he can swim in its pool and says “I love it there.”
But his daughter is the perfect type of candidate for Snap because she only uses an elliptical machine and treadmill, making her full-service club “a serious waste of money for her.”
“That’s the kind of person we’re looking to attract,” Madson added.
At Snap, prices start at $38 per month and go down to $30 per month for a 2-year contract, with a $39 enrollment fee that will be waived during specials for the April 13 grand opening of the Snap in Verona. Madson said his daughter pays $55 per month at her local full-service club.
Madson said the Snap in Verona will cover about 3,400 square feet and include six treadmills, six elliptical machines, three stationary bikes, free weights and weight machines. Independent personal trainers will be available for a fee. And there will be two tanning rooms. There will be bathrooms but no showers.
“Snap has three canned models but you can do any size you want,” he said. “The bigger the size, the bigger the investment.”
Staff typically will be on site 10 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays and fewer hours on weekends, Madson said.
The security system is similar to Anytime’s, with a keycard entry system, surveillance cameras, window and door alarms, panic alarms in the club and portable panic alarms users can keep with them.
When Madson started researching Snap, security was a primary concern.
“When I started calling around to the clubs that were open,” he said, “that was my first question: ‘Have you had any problems with theft and/or people coming in that don’t belong there?’ No one had theft problems, and only one had a problem with someone sneaking in” and that was to use the equipment for free, not threaten other users.
Madson is a retired teacher who spent 21 years at Holy Cross Lutheran School on the east side.
“I was looking for a business to get involved in and I’m a triathlete,” so fitness was a logical fit, he said.
In addition, he has friends who are franchising a Snap in Fort Atkinson and Lake Mills and other sites in that area, and they recommended the company.
One of Madson’s partners is Jon Burns; the other prefers not to be named, Madson said.
The group intends to open facilities in at least Fitchburg and DeForest to join the Verona facility, with openings expected in July and October, Madson said.
Another local franchising company is preparing to open a Snap Fitness facility on Cottage Grove Road but no one with that group could be reached for comment.
Snap reports more than 450 locations sold at the end of 2006 and is adding 300 or more annually, with plans to expand into Canada this year.
Anytime said it has more than 800 franchise locations and expects to sell 2,500 franchise locations worldwide within four years.
By Jeff Richgels for the Capital Times.