Sports & Play
Equinox Fitness Clubs set to open Toronto location
Watch out Toronto fitness clubs — yes, you with your dingy change rooms and sandpaper-esque towels — the Americans are coming. Following the push that LA Fitness has made in Toronto over the last year or so, Equinox Fitness Club is set to land in Toronto late this year (think December) with a 40,000 sq. ft. gym at Commerce Court.
For those unfamiliar with the brand, Equinox is the fitness club of the stars south of the border, boasting membership from Barack Obama amongst others. The Toronto gym is the club's second foray into the international market, joining a location opened in London last year.
Although specific details regarding the Toronto club have yet to be released, if one's to trust the teaser photos, fitness buffs in the Financial District should be happy. But all those nice amenities and lifestyle branding will cost you: monthly dues come in at $158.20 for access to the local gym, while a premium all-access membership (like the kind Obama has) will run you $169.50 for initiation and $206.79 monthly.
That ain't cheap — but hey, it's Equinox, man.
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$206.79 *per month
*Initiation Fee not included
+ tax
also, is it really worth every penny... like... really?
Was a member in Boston and it is an incredible place
Solid interior design skills too -- the high-end basement Equinox at Time Warner Center doesn't even have a single window but they make it work.
Condo and office building developers love Equinox because short of a Whole Foods it's just about the best large-format thing you can shove in the base of a new building. They soak up basements and second floors that other tenants do not want, all while populating your public spaces with lithe and attractive well-to-do gym users. This is exactly why Equinox was in fact bought by one of the largest US urban developers, Related Companies, in 2006.
Whatever you think of this particular brand or its origins, as a category of use it is a very good thing for Toronto and a healthy (pun) sign of downtown's vitality.
There's a 24 hour Goodlife Fitness at Yonge near King that seems like a much better downtown deal both for amenities and choice of group classes.
I can't imagine what they could possibly offer that would justify tripling my monthly expense for a membership. If the facility incorporates an olympic sized pool and rock climbing gym and has muay thai, judo, real boxing and spin classes I'd jump at a membership. In the absence of that, no thanks. I'll save my $120 a month and they can figure out how to pay for their marketing minus one customer.
Then again, this is going in the financial district and I'm sure there will be lots of people in need of something to waste money on.
http://q.equinox.com/articles/2011/09/powerlunchworkout
I bet they don't have him at the YMCA ;)
Yes, a Chevy will get you where you are going, Taco Bell will feed you, the Gap will clothe you. All these utilitarian things are fine. But there are options that are more inspired. If you don't get it, you don't get it. But why waste your time whining? It's that kind of attitude that keeps Toronto stuck in mediocrity in many ways, whereas in other great cities, people from all walks of life have higher expectations of quality and experience.
FYI, someone who throws around ten-dollar words should really know that one does not use an apostrophe when forming a plural, rather than the possessive case - i.e. "gym's". that use means something belonging to the gym or "the gym is ...". Not to be a prick, but "fallacious ad hominem"? Really?
funny that you consider this particular gym an orange, and all other gyms as apples. marketing works miracles i guess.
i agree with you about my choice of words being a bit over bearing though. i wanted to point out the "ad homenim" bit, just didn't know how to contextualize it. i could have said "a bullshit ad homenim" perhaps. i don't know. main thing was that i'm arguing for X, and 2 of you chose to attack Y. just wanted to point that out. bye bye.
Just try it. You'll see.
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I guess if you WANT to pay $240 a month for a towel that smells, that's fine. But I would rather save that money to blow during my retirement.