Add another storied gym chain to Orange County’s collection of fitness businesses that call the area home.
World Gym International LLC, one of the country’s better-known chains for bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts, said last week it plans to relocate its headquarters from Los Angeles to Costa Mesa.
World Gym has a little more than 200 locations worldwide, and added more than 30 spots last year. Most of its locations are franchised.
The headquarters move comes as the firm—already on a serious national and international expansion push—is unveiling a new, smaller-sized fitness studio concept, called World Gym Athletics.
The studios run 2,500 to 10,000 square feet, and feature a “studio-style, small group training program,” according to marketing materials. The locations plan to offer classes such as kickboxing, cycling, yoga, and an assortment of high-intensity training sessions.
Franchises can count an initial investment from $260,000 to $818,000, below the $451,000 to $1.8 million cost for a full-sized World Gym, which can run 20,000 square feet or more, according to company marketing documents.
Along with its new corporate headquarters, training center and headquarters for its franchising operations, the Costa Mesa location at 3185 Pullman St. will include the company’s first corporate-owned World Gym Athletics studio.
It’s scheduled to open later this year. The 4,600-square-foot location will act as the flagship for the new studio franchise model, according to the company.
World Gym Chief Executive Guy Cammilleri last year said that that World Gym will grow to 500 locations by 2023—via a mix of full-service clubs and World Gym Athletics studios.
The company’s first studio opened around the start of the year in Canada.
Gold Star
The World Gym brand was founded in 1976 by Joe Gold—a legendary bodybuilder who opened the first Gold’s Gym in 1965—during the glory days of “Muscle Beach” in Santa Monica. He died in 2004 at age 82.
The company was acquired in 2009 by Joyce Cammilleri, who died in 2016. It is now run by her sons Guy and Marcus Cammilleri, a company director, as well as Chief Operations Officer Doug Katona.
The Costa Mesa location has been a successful spot for other area fitness firms.
The Pullman Street location, just off the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway near the San Diego (405) Freeway interchange, was previously home to the headquarters of Club Pilates and its franchising operations.
Club Pilates—the country’s 28th-largest fitness chain with an estimated $52 million in revenue last year, according to trade publication Club Industry—is now based at the Intersect office campus in Irvine that holds the headquarters of its parent company, Xponential Fitness LLC.
The trade publication didn’t rank World Gym in its listing last month of the country’s top fitness chains, since most of its locations are franchised.
Xponential also runs Pure Barre and CycleBar, among other fitness chains.
Irvine’s Fitness International, which runs the LA Fitness chain, is the country’s largest operator of gyms, with $2.1 billion in estimated revenue in 2018.
Also based in OC: UFC Gym of Santa Ana ranked No. 14 on the Club Industry listing with $151 million in annual sales in 2018.
