Good day all.

I am new to the forum and am loving all the input and help from everyone. My boss has now recently gotten into rock climbing too whenever he has time for it and now he is hooked.
He asked me to find out what the demand/reaction would be for an indoor rock climbing gym in the Eastern Cape?
we are based in Port Elizabeth but the gym will be in the Port Alfred/East London region. Here is a picture what he is looking to do more or less.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
SteveO

Yea man!! Would be great to have a gym like that in East london! PA too small!

Hi Steve

I have 2 home walls one in PE & one in East London. Both bouldering only, both free, both largely un-used. There is one in GHT that is well used.

The pic you posted looks like it will cost R2-3M without the building. Thats lots of ticket, gear & bar sales to make it worth while & sustainable. Without being negitave; comercial walls in PE & EL have been investigated time & again. Prehaps we can meet up for a coffee/beer & discuss.

marshall(at)qsafrica.co.za

That pic looks a lot like the old SA Climb Inn, now known as WonderWall.

Hi Guys,
sorry for the late reply, i am in JHB for work unfortunately.
@ Andrew - thanks buddy but this has got nothing to do with me, i am just doing as im told but any feedback would be great and appreciated.
@ Marshall - thanks for the news. my will probably do his homework or make me do it. i have no idea about these indoor things but i have been to one in Durban and it was tons of fun! i am in JHB for work but i will PM you as soon as i am back in the windy city!
@ mountainmailorder - it could very well be, i just googled indoor rock climbing gym in SA and that was one of the images that popped up.

im just basically trying to find out if this is a good idea for East London(thanks Andrew) and whether people would acutally go.
again, all feedback welcomed.
also, anyone know where i can get some average climbing shoes?

Do yourself a favour & go to Wonderwall while you are in Joburg. You can look at the shoes at the same time.

Then plan a trip to Cityrock in CT. You could also go to various other smaller/ bigger existing walls (ST Peter's, the gym in Sandton etc.) & get an idea of how much it costs to put up, run, market etc.

On the other hand if you have bundles of cash you can make whatever you want BUT making a commercially viable climbing gym is not an easy task.

All the best & hope you succeed!

_________________
Really, its not that bad...I think it's my shoes...

max 10 active climbers in EL, add another max 10 for occasional, lapsed climbers & general climbing talkers

Garvin will confirm that these numbers are hugely optimistic.

What Derek is trying to say I think, U building a gym in a place with a very small market, you'll require a lot of marketing to new clients or your business will not generate an income.

Ebert

hi guys.

thanks for all the awesome feed back, really appreciate it and it makes my job a lot easier.
i actually went to wonderwall on the weekend and it was pretty awesome to go to an indoor place. a new experience for me. going to try a few outdoor cliimbs while im here.

i will just print all the comments for my boss to look at. the shoes were pretty good at wonderwall but i will do a bit of shopping around first.