GYMS
Smart Fit still rules Brazil's gym boom, but rivals are opening faster
The number of gyms has tripled in Brazil. Photo: Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock
Panobianco, a franchise gym chain from the interior of São Paulo state, added a net 17 locations in August, nearly three times the six added by Smart Fit, the company that pioneered Brazil's low-cost gym market and still dominates it.
Since January, the challenger has added 101 units to the leader's 68, according to a Citi tracker of locations listed on company websites, a count that includes gyms still in pre-opening. The scoreboard remains lopsided, with 1,047 Smart Fit gyms in Brazil against 515 for Panobianco, 250 for Selfit, 233 for Bluefit, and 111 for Academia Gaviões. Citi also lists 452 for Skyfit but warns that the figure stopped being comparable in July, after the chain changed how it maps its units.
All of them are riding the same wave…
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