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Agree with the general economics, but this caught my eye:

> a gym customer needs quite a bit more space compared to the retail customers in the rest of the high street

Where I live, the two gyms nearest to me are not on a high street - they are effectively in residential areas, which I believe has lower rents. The gyms that are on the high street are 'super gyms' that are significantly more expensive.

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I have seen “high street” gyms use office space and even basement space. While being a short minute walk from the high street. My current gym is upstairs. Upstairs entry is not something most shops want (unless you are niche maybe like a wedding shop). There are tricks to get lower rent.

My gym is the top floor of a parking garage

Yeah I used to subscribe to one of those basement gyms. They had the place lit up with almost gamer themed LED lighting strips and it was pretty cool.

Only they didn’t run the air con so it would be roasting in summer.

Probably good to have the gyms closer to where people live as well. Retail stores benefit from the incidental visits of people who are already there. But no one is going to just pop in to the gym while buying clothes.

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