Coltala
Team Cotala, from left, Sarah White, Blaine Kaehr, Edward Crawford, Ralph Manning, Nathan Wilson and Melanie Barton.
Coltala Holdings is jumping head-first into one reality of the post-COVID era with a significant investment that is poised to alter the landscape of the fitness industry in state and national sectors, both in terms of brick-and-mortar and e-commerce.
Officials with the company announced on Wednesday morning it had closed on the acquisition of three fitness equipment companies, creating the largest Texas-based e-commerce and fitness equipment dealer with 23 retail locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio markets.
The companies being acquired are Fitcorp in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, Fitness in Motion in Austin and San Antonio, and Eclat Inc. of Houston.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The new company of the combined entities, MyFitnessStore.com, will be a full-service fitness equipment dealer offering a wide array of fitness equipment through e-commerce, residential, and commercial users coupled with a service offering that includes gym design, delivery, and repair and maintenance.
MyFitnessStore.com will consist of Texas-based specialty fitness dealers operating under brand names Busybody, Fitness HQ, Fitness in Motion, Fitness Unlimited, TX Home Fitness, and Winston Fitness.
It will also boast a staff of highly trained fitness equipment professionals, the company says.
The company’s executive team will be led by CEO Paul Ravaris and president Craig Lewin. The company’s board will be comprised of Ralph Manning, CEO of Coltala; Edward Crawford, president of Coltala; and Brandon Bean, a former CEO of Gold’s Gym, who will serve as an adviser to the board.
“The business made sense for us only if we did all three so we could be the largest in the state,” says Manning. “It seemed like a very steep hill when we first started talking about the odds of getting three different companies to come together at one time and one place. But they loved the vision we had built. They loved the legacy that their companies would enjoy under our stewardship, and they reinvested in our new business so they’re really believers in the long term.”
Says Lewin in a statement: “My vision is to have stores all over Texas and beyond, and with Coltala’s help, we are going to be serving more customers than ever before. I have worked in this industry since I was 15 years old, and after 28 years, I’ve never been so excited about the future of our company.”
Crawford and Manning say the acquisition orients itself perfectly with the Coltala’s “Margin and Mission” mantra in which both are given equal footing in the company’s vision for its businesses.
The investment also aligns with a change in the marketplace brought about by the pandemic, which forced consumers ordinarily accustomed to working out at a gym to take it to the house because of lockdowns or discomfort being around more crowded spaces and strangers.
Gyms and gym franchises have yet to recover from the pandemic, particularly with access to in-home exercise options.
A survey by the National Association of Home Builders found that 47% of homebuyers in 2020 considered a home gym essential or desirable, according to a story published by The Wall Street Journal.
“The large gyms were the biggest losers in COVID, while the boutique gyms and home-hybrid model are taking off,” says Crawford. “We think that’s here to stay, and we’ve seen it play out in the market as COVID starts to dissipate a little.”
Working out at home no longer carries with it concerns about accountability or competitiveness with digital interactive equipment now part of the game.
“With technology, fitness has really, really advanced and continues to change how people think about [working out] … ‘OK, wow, I can really do this and be productive, and not feel like I’m just by myself,’” Manning says.
Many others are simply having their trainers come to the house.
Coltala believes the demographic for in-home workouts has changed, too. Gone are the days when this was merely for Robin Leach’s rich and famous. Of course, one could spend $100,000 to add on to the house. However, they could just as easily a tiny fraction of that for a piece of equipment to put in an empty space or the basement perhaps.
“Really, now, the home gym is for the masses,” Crawford says. “There are opportunities at different price points for multiple people doing it in small apartments or in their garages. You’re really seeing a mass market trend for the home gym.”