Limited | |
Industry | Retailing and fitness clubs |
Founded | 13 March 2009 |
Headquarters | Wigan, Greater Manchester, England |
Key people
|
Dave Whelan |
Products | Sporting goods |
Revenue | £139.4 million |
£3.9 million | |
Subsidiaries | DW Sports Fitness Clubs, DW Sports Retail Stores |
Website |
www |
DW Sports Fitness is a British retailing and fitness business. Founded in March 2009 when Dave Whelan purchased the 50 JJB Sports Fitness Clubs and the attached retail stores for £83.4 million. At the time all the sites were shared between a fitness club and retail store, with most cases seeing the fitness club downstairs and the retail store upstairs. Since that time the group has grown to encompass more than 60 sites, including stand-alone retail stores and stand-alone fitness clubs.
In April 2011, in an effort to boost the profile of their retail stores DW Sports joined the international buying group Intersport. As a result, the Intersport logo was incorporated into the DW Sports Fitness fascias.
In November 2012, the first stand-alone DW Sports retail site opened at Wigan Grand Arcade in the old JJB unit located on the first floor next to TK Maxx.
In November 2012, in the wake of JJB Sports's demise. Mike Ashley's Sports Direct was rumoured to have purchased 60 JJB sites for a reported £30 million, but that leaves the other 120+ stores in the former JJB portfolio. Some reports say DW Sports is not interested in acquiring any further JJB units, whilst others say that they are.
Since the 2009 acquisition and the renaming of JJB Fitness Clubs as DW Fitness Clubs several new gymnasium and leisure facilities have been opened in locations such as; Poole, Liverpool Hunts Cross, Sunderland, Ipswich, Blackpool, Aylesbury and Lincoln. A new gym only has recently opened in Huddersfield.