Fitness Center Feasibility Study in South Carolina

South Carolina's gym losses are the cell's distinctive measure

The defining number for South Carolina fitness centres is the charge-off floor: of the 54 South Carolina gym loans disbursed across FY2017 to FY2021, 24.1% are already charged off, and 11.1% were lost inside their first five years. The charge-off floor is the one distinctive measure in this cell, set against South Carolina lending across all classes and against gyms nationally. It is a floor, too, since loans still open can add to it. Gyms rank 4 of 39 classes by loans, with a location quotient of 1.16x, and South Carolina ranks 25 of 54 among states on 150 loans and $79.4 million over FY2017 to FY2026.

Bigger tickets, a franchise majority

South Carolina gym loans are larger than the class norm: the median of $337,900 is 1.30x the class's national midpoint, with half of South Carolina approvals between $108,350 and $629,500. Franchised clubs take 51.3% of loans, and 144 of the loans used 7(a) against 6 under 504. In South Carolina The Huntington National Bank leads with 22 loans for $5.4 million; Wells Fargo Bank National Association has 14 South Carolina loans and TD Bank, National Association 11; Pinnacle Bank holds 7 worth $10.1 million and Live Oak Banking Company 7 worth $3.9 million. Charleston County has 31 loans, Greenville 24, Horry 18, York 11 and Beaufort 10. Approvals fell to 4 in FY2021 and 5 in FY2022, then rebounded to 28 loans and $21.4 million in FY2025.

What a borrower should take from it

Cancellations, at a floor of 11.9% for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals with the ceiling the same, are not the main problem; losses after funding are. For a borrower, the record points to a plan that has to survive a slow fill and a competitor opening nearby, with an equity cushion that absorbs both.

A South Carolina fitness study therefore has to be stricter than usual on demand: membership capacity in the trade area, the competing clubs and studios already there, and the attrition rate the brand actually experiences, not its marketing figure. Cost must include equipment replacement over the loan term, not just the opening package. Coverage of the South Carolina payment has to survive a test at lower membership and lower dues, because 24.1% of this cohort has already been charged off. If property is pledged, its South Carolina appraisal has to value the building for other users, since the building may need to serve users other than a gym. Fitness centres carry no coding caveat.