Planet Fitness has lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission against Virgin Active. They apparently claim that whenever they identify a suitable location to set up a Planet Fitness, that Virgin Active then approaches the landlord and encourages them not to enter into a deal with Planet Fitness. I know that the Competition Commission gets its fair share of nonsense complaints, and certainly the one about Phumelela some time last year was a prime example, and this one just has the sounds of a complaint that is not going anywhere.

That does not mean it is nonsense, it is just that even if it is true that landlords when approached by Virgin Active, decide not to do a deal with Planet Fitness, it may well be for a number of other reasons. They may, for example, decide that Virgin Active is the more prominent and more famous gym brand, and having them in the shopping centre would lead to more trade and traffic than Planet Fitness. It may well be that Virgin Active can always make a deal to place their gyms in three or four of the centres owned by that particular landlord and thus appeal on the size of the group. I have empathy for Planet Fitness, but from a different point of view altogether and that is with so many gyms in South Africa having gone bankrupt over the years, although none recently, it must really be hard for them as a smaller player to attract people. They end up having to do it by building over the top facilities in certain areas, which, once you factor in the cost of the lease and the equipment, may take many years to break even.