AusLeisure

Having occupied a prime spot in the Warwick CBD for over five years, the Anytime Fitness club in the South East Queensland town is changing its branding to that of a new global club franchise established six time Mr. Olympia winner Dorian Yates.

According to the Warwick Daily News, as of Thursday last week, members of the gym received a text message from Anytime Fitness to say the Warwick facility was shutting.

However, franchise owner Peter Cook said clients needn't be concerned about the closure, advising “the franchise contract expires in June (so) this has given me a timely opportunity to do something new. The gym won't close at all - it will simply have a name change in the next few weeks.”

The change will see the club become the first DY Gym Australia club, established by bodybuilding legend Yates.

Cook explained “Dorian Yates is a friend of mine ... we've been the sole distributor of his supplement products in Australia and New Zealand for some time and when he branched out into gyms he approached me to become master franchisor for Australia and New Zealand.

"It's been in the works for a while and now my Anytime contract is nearly done, it's the perfect time to launch Australia's very first DY Gym here in Warwick.”

Currently, DY Gym has just one site in the Chinese city of Suzhou but Cook is confident the brand will thrive in Australia’s gym franchising market, stating “we hope to have five or six gyms open in Queensland by Christmas (while) the goal is to have one in every capital city in Australia.”

Cook said he wanted to ensure all current members at the Warwick gym that there would be little disruption due to the name change.

He added “a little bit of remodelling, a new computer system, which might impact an hour or two but overall it should be seamless.

"For a limited time we'll also be offering free personal training sessions, orientation and meal planning to all new and existing members.”

Cook knew the end of the contract was coming but said the text message went out from Anytime Fitness Australia was sent a few weeks earlier than expected.

He concluded “we understand there was a bit of confusion from our members around town.

"We've taken a lot of phone calls, text messages and emails but we're getting on the phone ourselves to assure everyone their gym isn't going anywhere.”

Click here for more information on DY Gym franchises.

Images: The first DY Gym in the Chinese city of Suzhou (top) and the DY Gym logo (below).

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