BUSiNESS PROFiLE
THiNGS CAN ONLY GET Twenty years, 300 venues, 10,000 Australian jobs and one big dream... BY CHARLENE MACAULAY
BiGGER
NICK Solomos dreams big. The 29-year-old has just opened what he believes is the biggest gym in the Southern Hemisphere – and as far as he’s concerned, he’s barely punching above his weight. The new Derrimut 24:7 Gym, which is located in Ravenhall and spans more than 5000 square metres, features its own café with a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu; a wellness centre with a chiropractor, physiotherapist, tanning and waxing services; personal training consulting rooms; a protein supplements supermarket; a child-minding facility; and a dedicated marketing office. Then there’s the gym itself. Derrimut 24:7 boasts dedicated spaces for its weights and cardio machines – including the Jacob’s Ladder which featured in the 2011 series of The Biggest Loser – as well as a free weights section, a mixed martial arts area with a full boxing ring, group fitness rooms, a spin class facility, and a yoga/pilates facility. It offers around 100 group fitness classes a week, more than any other gym or fitness facility in Melbourne, according to Mr Solomos. “We’ve got the best equipment that money can buy,” Mr Solomos said.
Derrimut 24:7 Gym’s Nick Solomos. Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
“Everyone said it couldn’t be done, that it wasn’t going to work… but my theory is build it and it will come. “We’re like Las Vegas – we’re in the desert, we’ve got no surrounding buildings or housing around us, and that’s important to me because people come out here for us, and that tells us we’re on the right track. “We find that people spend half an hour more in our gym, on average, than in any other gym. We have the café, the wellness centre.” The facility is part of Mr Solomos’ plan to open 300 venues worldwide in the next 20 years and create 10,000 Australian jobs. “We want to get employment up and people off the couch and into the gym,” he said.
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We’ve got no surrounding buildings or housing around us, and that’s important to me because people come out here for us, and that tells us we’re on the right track... NICK SOLOMOS