Chattanooga-based climbing purveyor, High Point Climbing is not stopping at just three gyms. Earlier this month the company started demolition on their new Birmingham, AL facility which will be their 3rd operation. High Point opened their first facility in downtown Chattagoona and is one of the larger climbing facilities in the US.
High Point co-owner John Wiygul told Nooga.com that the success of the locations has made the expansion of the climbing gym possible and that they had been looking to add a climbing facility to Birmingham, Alabama, since 2014.
“We chose Birmingham because it is twice the size of Chattanooga and it is only two hours away,” he told Nooga.com. “Birmingham was a wide-open market with a location close to their downtown.”
The new Birmingham location will mark a change in business strategy for the company. Currently their Chatty location is heavily dependent on tourists that visit the scenic and retail-heavy downtown corridor. Nooga.com reports that day passes account for 40% of the gym’s profit. Though Birmingham sees a number of tourists, the gym there will be mostly dependent on membership revenue like a typical climbing facility.
High Point Climbing and Fitness Birmingham is scheduled to open in spring 2016 and will offer 28,000 square feet of climbing surface, Wiygul said.
High Point is currently eyeing six other locations in the Southeast for expansion.
“We want to keep expanding in the Southeast and have a network of gyms,” Wiygul said. “We are considering other markets, and the property we find in the city will determine if we expand there.”
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