Now gulping down your favourite burger need not make you feel guilty. Your neighbourhood mall is soon going to be equipped with a full-fledged gym thanks to the tie-up between Future Group and Talwalkars. The new initiative – Talwalkars Fit and Active – will offer health, fitness and gym services within shopping malls and consumption centres. Along with these facilities, the company will retail best-in-class fitness equipments and accessories to its customers.
Elaborating on the concept, Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group, said, “This is going to be a joint venture initiative wherein the initial investment made is around Rs 25 crore. The minimum area for the gym at our malls will be around 7,000 square feet and the maximum place that we will offer will be about 20,000 square feet. Some of the centres will also offer facilities of day spa and a swimming pool.”
Talking about the partnership, Prashant Talwalkar, managing director, Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Pvt. Ltd, said, “Having been in this business for over seven decades, we are now seeing a significant uptrend in customer spending on health, fitness and preventive healthcare. In urban India, consumption centres and shopping malls are places where customers are spending most of their time and money. Also, another advantage is that of ample parking space. Which other gym will offer a parking space for about 300 cars?”
The first Talwalkars Fit and Active centre has been launched at Future Group’s Orchid City Centre mall in central Mumbai. Says Talwalkar, “In just two months we have enrolled 730 members.” Both the companies are now in the process of setting up 50 Talwalkars Fit and Active centres over the next three years in shopping malls across the country. Biyani informed, “In the coming three months we will be having five more gyms, out of which 2 will be at Bangalore, 1 at Nagpur, 1 at Noida, and 1 at Siliguri.”
Talking about the facilities, Talwalkar says, “We plan to offer yoga, pilates, martial arts, juice bar and an indoor pool. The yearly membership will be approximately Rs 10,000.”
– Zainab Morbiwala, Mumbai Bureau
