Shift
Holland, Michigan
Specs: Shift, founded by Jonathan Brandt and Jack Ogilvie, is expected to open in early 2025 in Holland, Michigan. Brandt is a USAC L5 routesetter and will bring nearly 20 years of climbing industry experience to Shift. Ogilvie has been a part of the climbing community for over 15 years, founded and ran a digital marketing agency—Techwood—for 12 years, and aims to empower employees and create healthy business cultures through his consulting and advisory work. The pair met while climbing in Atlanta and kept in touch, exchanging ideas for a climbing gym after both left the city. In 2024, after years of friendship, conversation and climbing, the team “decided the time was right and committed to bringing the gym to life,” they said.
Brandt and Ogilvie found an existing 12,377-square-foot building on the north side of town—adjacent to the future Holland Township Community Center at the Westshore Mall—that had the requisite square footage, floor plan and ceiling height for their vision. The location is also in “a higher traffic area,” the owners said, which they hope “creates convenience of access and good exposure.” Holland has an active community and a rich outdoor scene, the team noted, with “one great climbing gym here, [Scrapyard Climbing Collective], that is already serving the community well.” The Shift owners hope to add more variety to the indoor climbing experience in the city and “share climbing with even more of the Holland/Ottawa County region.”
The bouldering-focused climbing gym will feature 5,100 square feet of climbing wall surface, including a Tension Board 2 and a hydraulically tiltable boulder by Dreamwall—a European wall manufacturer that’s building the bouldering walls in the gym, the brand’s first gym project in the U.S. “Picture a long, freestanding boulder with climbing wrapping around all sides,” said Ogilvie and Brandt. “The whole structure will be on hydraulics hidden inside of it that allows the entire boulder to tilt over 12 degrees in two different directions.” They hope the Dreamwall boulder will help “keep things fresh set to set” at Shift and lend itself to creative competition boulders.
Brandt’s industry experience helped the gym owners decide on the wall layout, padding design and hold orders, Ogilvie said, and will guide the gym’s in-house and guest routesetting. “Leveraging [Brandt’s] network of peers will allow us to bring in high-level guest setters from all over the world to educate our staff, inspire our community, create content and create great experiences,” Ogilvie added. The boulders will follow a circuit-style grading system, with seven color circuits and colors changing semi-frequently. “We feel this [system] is important for two reasons: one, because it will grant our community greater access to different hold types; and two, because we value innovation, change and a growth mindset,” they said. Shift will also feature an eighth circuit, which will be set at any level of difficulty—whether that be boulders of a specific style, a unique challenge or the set from a guest setter—“so the community can experience different approaches to the craft and the sport,” they explained.
According to Ogilvie and Brandt, the duo has been planning ways to make Shift a business that puts employees first. “We will be putting our money where our mouths are by paying our initial staff highly competitive wages and offering salaried positions with benefits for roles not normally compensated in that way,” they said. Brandt pointed out that Ogilvie has a track record of cultivating employee-centered workplaces, having won the “Best Places to Work” award by Inc.com in 2018 for his agency, Techwood. The gym owners also plan to share the success of Shift with the employee team by using an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. “We are building this to have a significant impact, first on the lives of those who choose to trust us with their employment,” Ogilvie said, noting the impact the plan has had on employees of Techwood.
Walls: Dreamwall
Flooring: Flashed
CRM Software: Beta
Website: www.shiftclimbing.com
Instagram: @ShiftClimbing
In Their Words: “With [Ogilvie’s] business acumen and desire to be an incredible employer and my desire to take 15 years of industry experience, look at all the things I feel like could be improved upon and make something that truly stands out in the biz, an incredible partnership has been formed. Every day feels more and more magical and more and more like we’re creating something truly special.” – Jonathan Brandt, Shift Climbing Co-Founder and Co-Owner
Naomi is a personal trainer and a routesetter who has also worked at climbing gyms as a youth team coach. After starting college at Colorado State University in 2017, she wanted to make new friends and found climbing, fell in love, and now climbing dictates most of what she does. Naomi earned a bachelor’s degree in Ecosystem Science & Sustainability, and when not climbing she enjoys baking, gardening and crafting.
