Oklahoma City, OK.
Metro Area Population: 1,296,565
Number of public climbing gyms: 1
OK City may not be the first to come to mind when thinking about opening a climbing gym, and you may need to do a lot of marketing to a local population that is unfamiliar with the sport. That being said, the midwest offers the single biggest untapped market potential in the country.
In an interview with NPR , Mick Cornett, head of the Republican Mayors Association and Mayor of Oklahoma City, said, “Highly educated 20-somethings are moving to Oklahoma City in large numbers. The Kauffman Foundation recently disclosed that we were the most entrepreneurial city in the country, most start-ups per capita. And so if you have the bright and the young and the talented moving to your city, that’s a great labor pool that your entrepreneurs and job creators are going to be able to tap into.”
All though a gym in OKC may not become the next training ground for the next generation of rock climbing phenoms (you never know!) it will produce a sizeable return on investment. The city’s low cost of living, friendly tax incentives and low square foot costs (industrial $53 and going up, office $91 and going down) combined with over 30,000 University of Oklahoma students, low unemployment and a friendly business environment, makes OKC a solid bet for any sized climbing facility.
I’m actually in the process of building a gym about an hour away from Memphis right now. I get lots of curious questions about Memphis and if they have the closest gym to us and such. People are always surprised to hear there’s nothing there. It’s a super easy trip to make on a Saturday and in fact our municipal ultimate frisbee league has people that drive in from Memphis on week nights just to play. We are definitely hoping to draw some customers from down there.