Most members are probably fine with using the G word. But the company, which opened its first location in 1992 and has operated in the Chicago area for decades, prefers the term “athletic country club.”
Life Time is one of many gyms that has reinvented the traditional gym membership into an almost resort-like experience. They send monthly membership fees well into the triple digits, and people are willing to pay.
“It’s a high-barrier-to-entry product,” said Natalie Bushaw, Life Time’s vice president of communications. “We know that if someone is going to invest in a Life Time membership, they are investing because they want it all, they want that Life Time lifestyle.”
Memberships at the club’s River North location, which opened in the One Chicago building earlier this year, start at $249 per month. That’s on par with other luxury gyms in the area.
Equinox, for example, is another national chain that has locations on the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Common, and the Loop. Their single location monthly memberships range from $185 to $210, plus a $300 initiation fee. At East Bank Club, which opened in Chicago in 1980, a standard individual membership costs $220 per month plus a $300 membership fee. $500 initiation.
So why are some gym-goers willing to pay such premiums for these luxury fitness clubs?
There are the latest exercise machines and seemingly limitless sets of weights. Basketball, pickleball, racquetball, squash, and tennis courts dotted throughout the buildings. There are swimming pools and saunas and steam rooms. Changing rooms are stocked with high-end face creams, hairsprays, and temperature-controlled towels. Some clubs even have indoor golf driving ranges.
