The Vitamin Shoppe Opens Stores Inside LA Fitness Gyms
The Vitamin Shoppe, a nutrition product retailer, has partnered with LA Fitness to open shops inside the fitness centers. To date, The Vitamin Shoppe has opened nine 300-square-foot locations inside LA Fitness chains in New Jersey, New York, and Florida. The Vitamin Shoppe said it caters to the “wellness goals and need states of the LA Fitness membership,” and that the stores offer nutrition products, snacks and beverages for people on the go. The stores feature more than 90 leading health brands, which include The Vitamin Shoppe’s own brands like BodyTech, BodyTech Elite, True Athlete, plnt and ProBioCare.
Total Retail's Take: Brand partnerships such as this one between The Vitamin Shoppe and LA Fitness are becoming more common these days. The reasons for that trend are myriad, including as a means for increasing brand exposure, the opportunity to break into new markets, as a way to add extra value to products and services, among others. In the case of The Vitamin Shoppe-LA Fitness partnership, there's a natural synergy between the brands. Each is dedicated to improving the health and wellness of its customers, and one would suspect that there's significant cross-over between the two customer bases. For a successful brand partnership, both parties must gain something from the relationship. The Vitamin Shoppe gains access to a targeted demographic at a moment in time when they're most likely to be in a mind-set to purchase its products — right before or after they work out. And LA Fitness benefits by adding a convenient service for its customers, as well as the financial gains from leasing the store space. All in all, this seems to be a brand partnership that makes a lot of sense, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see it rolled out to more LA Fitness locations in the near future.
